A false memory is a memory of an event that did not happen or is a distortion of an event, as determined by externally corroborated facts of the event. If a person has a memory of an event for which there is no other witness nor corroborative physical evidence, the validity of the memory may be questioned but not dismissed. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but the importance of validating evidence has the highest priority. One can say there may be scores of secret triangles containing 425 degrees, but this cannot be validated until many are found. A complication arises in such instances as when the memory involves trauma inflicted by another. Where the involved third party has self interest to deny the memory, that denial should not be deemed sufficient to dismiss the memory, but the memory should not be used to accuse the third party of any crimes unless there is additional hard evidence.

False memories may be created in a number of ways, and the exact mechanism is controversial. Hypnosis is useful in making false memories since it boosts fantasizing and increases subjective certainty of the fantasies. Research suggests that at least some of these memories are formed through rehearsal, or repetition, of an event that is confirmed not to have occurred: after thinking about and visualizing it repeatedly, the person may begin to remember it as if it had actually happened. If asked about it, the person may confidently recall the event, when in reality it is merely the previous visualizations that make it seem familiar. Rehearsal is the strongest mechanism of moving short-term memory into long-term memory. Naturally, when incorrect information is rehearsed, an incorrect long-term memory is formed. This applies to both implanted and real memories. For example, many people with siblings have had the experience of learning later in life that one of their childhood memories actually happened to their sibling.

Proponents of recovered memories say that a distinction between ordinary and traumatic memory is essential in understanding the issues of and surrounding false memory. Studies show that memories can be implanted, but since implanting traumatic memories and related affects - such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Dissociative Identity Disorder - would be unethical, this has not been done.

False-memory syndrome (FMS) is a state of mind where the sufferer has a high number of highly vivid false memories, often of abusive events during their childhood. This has been tested and verified by sufferers confessing to entirely "made up stories". FMS is not recognised in the DSM-IV. In fact, the forgetting of traumatic events constitutes several of the manual's diagnostic criteria for PTSD. The debate over FMS centers largely around the topic of child abuse, where dissociation allegedly occurs and the traumatic memory is buried until later in life when the memory is remembered naturally or with the aid of a helping professional. Advocates of FMS argue both methods of recovering memory, claiming that helping professionals such as therapists and psychiatrists accidentally implant false memories.

The False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) was formed by a group of parents who had been accused of child abuse, their lawyers, and sympathetic academics who promote the hypothesis of FMS, and dispute the validity of recovered memories, for example memory expert Elizabeth Loftus. The FMSF cooperates with the anti-pseudoscience organizations CSICOP and The Skeptics Society who regard recovered memories as a typical but especially dangerous pseudoscience.

False memory has been an important issue in many investigations and court cases, including cases of alleged sexual abuse and Satanic ritual abuse. Other subjects where false memories are said to be implanted by therapists are alien abductions and reincarnation therapy. All of those therapies use the methods described above as capable of inducing false memories,

Recovered memory therapists often use methods reminiscent of cults:

• They try to keep from their clients information that could make them doubt their recovered memories.
• They viciously attack opponents, insinuating that they are Satanists (Satanic ritual abuse type) or endorse child abuse (sexual abuse type).

In the 1980s there was a wave of child abuse accusations based on nothing but recovered memories, and parents were even imprisoned. In the 1990s, some decisions have been reverted, and therapists have been successfully sued by former clients for implanting false memories.

References

• Ceci, S.J., Huffman, M.L.C., Smith, E., & Loftus, E.F. (1994) Repeatedly thinking about non-events. Consciousness and Cognition, 3, 388-407.
• Hyman, I.E., Husband, T.H., & Billings, F.J. (1995) False memories of childhood experiences. Applied Cognitive Psychology 9, 181-197.
• Roediger, H.L. & McDermott, K.B. (1995). Creating false memories: Remembering words that were not presented in lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 21, 803-814. Full Text (PDF) (http://psych.wustl.edu/memory/Roddy%20article%20PDF%27s/Roediger%20and%20McDermott%201995.pdf).
• Pendergrast, Mark Victims of Memory: Incest Accusations and Shattered Lives, Upper Access,Inc, 1995
• Ofshe, Richard and Watters, Ethan Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, and Sexual Hysteria, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1994

See also

• Dissociative Identity Disorder
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Bridey Murphy
• Hypnosis

External links and references

• Whitfield, Charles L. (1995) Memory and abuse: remembering and healing the effects of trauma.
• Skeptic's Dictionary on false memories (http://skepdic.com/falsememory.html)
• False Memory Syndrome Foundation (http://www.fmsfonline.com/)