How False Memories Form

In the lost-in-the-mall study, implantation of false memory occurred when another individual, usually a family member, claimed that the event happened. Corroboration of an event by another person can be a powerful technique for instilling a false memory. In fact, merely claiming to have seen a person do something can lead to a false confession of wrongdoing.

This was shown in a study by Saul M. Kassin and his colleagues at Williams College, who investigated the reactions of individuals falsely accused of damaging a computer by pressing the wrong key. The innocent participants initially denied the charge, but when a confederate said that she had seen them perform the action, many participants signed a confession, internalized guilt for the act and went on to confabulate details that were consistent with that belief. These findings show that false incriminating evidence can induce people to accept guilt for a crime they did not commit, and even to develop memories to support their guilty feelings.

Research studies are beginning to give us an understanding of how false memories of complete, emotional and self-participatory experiences are created in adults. First, there are social demands on individuals to remember; for instance, researchers exert some pressure on participants in a study to come up with memories. Second, memory construction by imagining events can be explicitly encouraged when people are having trouble remembering. And, finally, individuals can be encouraged not to think about whether their constructions are real or not. Creation of false memories are most likely to occur when these external factors are present, whether this occurs in an experimental setting, in a therapeutic setting, or in everyday activities.

False memories are constructed by combining actual memories with the content of suggestions received from others. During the process, individuals may forget the source of the information. This is a classic example of source confusion, in which the content and the source become dissociated.

Of course, simply because we can implant false childhood memories in some individuals in no way implies that all memories that arise after suggestion are necessarily false. Put another way, although experimental work on false memory creation may raise doubt about the validity of long-buried memories, such as repeated trauma, it in no way disproves them. Without corroboration, there is little that can be done to help even the most experienced evaluator to differentiate true memories from ones that are suggestively planted.

The precise mechanisms by which such false memories are constructed await further research. We still have much to learn about the degree of confidence and the characteristics of false memories created in these ways, and we need to discover what types of individuals are particularly susceptible to these forms of suggestion and, conversely, who is resistant.

As we continue this work, it is important to heed the cautionary tale in the data we have already obtained: mental health professionals and others must be aware of how much they can influence the recall of events and of the great need for maintaining restraint in situations in which imagination is used as an aid in recovering presumably lost memories.

The Author

Elizabeth F. Loftus is professor of psychology and adjunct professor of law at the University of Washington. She received her Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in 1970. Her research has focused on human memory, eiewitness testimony and courtroom procedure. Loftus has published 18 books and more than 250 scientific articles and has servd as an expert witness or consultant in hundreds of trials, including the mcMartin preschool molestation case. Her book Eyewitness Testimony won a national media Award from the American Psychological Foundation. She has received honorary doctorates from Miami University, Leiden University and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Loftus was recently elected president of the American Psychological Society.

Further Readings

The Myth of Repressed Memory. Elizabeth F. Loftus & Katherine Ketcham. St. Martin's Press, 1994.

The Social Psychology of False Confessions: Compliance, internalization, and confabulation, Saul M. Kassin and Katherine L. Kiechel in Psychological Science, Vol. 7, No. 3, pagees 125-128; May, 1996.

Imagination Inflation: Imagining a childhood event inflates confidence that it occurred. Maryanne Garry, Charles G. Manning, Elizabeth F. Loftus, Steven J. Sherman in Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, vol. 3, No. 2, pages 208-214; June 1996.

Remembering our past: Studies in autobiographical memory. Edited by David C. Rubin. Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Searching for Memory: The Brain, the Mind, and the Past. Daniel L. Schacter. BasicBooks, 1996.