Memory- A ToK Essay

In a recent course of events, the last two members of the Usher family passed away in a rather peculiar manner; “I fled aghast”, says our still terror-stricken source who was at the scene. According to the only eyewitness, who wishes to remain anonymous, Roderick Usher, a shut-in, had been suffering from hypersensitivity and anxiety for a while. His sister, Madeline Usher, suffered from catalepsy. However, these diseases did not directly cause their deaths or the mysterious disappearance of their house.

The Retrieval-induced Forgetting in an Eyewitness Paradigm article is based on an experiment done to test retrieval- induced forgetting. Even though research was done on this topic before, the authors took it one step forward to either prove or deny the theory of retrieval-induced forgetting. They wanted to see if repeated questioning would impact a witnesses’ ability to recall certain events or even specific details. This was done by showing subjects different slides of the aftermath of theft. They were then asked to recall selected details of what they saw several different times. Previous experiments have proven that there are both positive and negative effects to addressing

Many false-convictions have occurred because of a witness believing their memory as correct, when in actuality the memory had been altered. The Innocence Project has had numerous cases in which victims pick out a defendant from a line-up believing they are the real perpetrator, however, years later DNA evidence proved the man was innocence. While victims should be treated with respect, and have their voices heard, it is vital to take the findings in account to make sure the judicial process is as fair as possible, for both the accused and the victims. In a Ted Talk Loftus says memories are much like Wikipedia pages, we can go into them and edit, yet so can others. As Loftus’s research gave other scholars the ground work establishing memory is not as infallible as original thought, scholars should do more research for further

Loftus and Palmer support the reconstructive memory hypothesis. They believe that information gathered at the time of an icident is

The McMartin Preschool Abuse Trial: Many children and people were harm due to false memory accusations. In the case, the Social Worker, Kee MacFarlene her style of interviewing the children was wrong and misleading to the witnesses. A social worker is conducting an interview, must be done in an ethical manner and style. Their goal is to have the witness give the correct and honest answers to the questions asked. A valuable lesson for a Social worker when they are speaking with a client is not to contaminate their client’ memory is to ask questions that are not suggestive, leading, and misleading questions. After viewing the different Elizabeth Loftus clips, I realize that your memory can be easily manipulated, by making you believe something

Propaganda was used in 3 main types of ways in the First World War. It

The need for understanding the phenomenon of repressed memories is also very important from a legal standpoint. In recent years there has been numerous cases of people suing their parents or other authority figures for abuse that has been recalled many years after the abuse was said to have occurred. The rulings in these cases have often been controversial considering there is often not enough concrete or collaborative evidence to prove the accused to be guilty or innocent. The judge and jury are often forced to make a ruling that relies heavily on the testimonial of the accuser. This is very contentious considering there is not an accurate and reliable test to determine the validity of the accuser.

Her possibly most infamous study was her Lost in the Mall study where she attempted to implant a false memory in a young child. Loftus told participants 4 stories, including a false one of the child being lost in a mall at a young age for an extended period of time, of their own childhood that supposedly were all from members of the family. One of the 4 stories was false and the participant was asked to identify the false memory. 25% of participants remembered no such event happened. Many other participants were able to provide evidence for the false events. It was concluded that if false memories can be laid down this way, witnesses who are allowed the chance to talk to each other after an event might alter the recall of other witnesses. Again indicating that eyewitness testimony is not

Experiment 1 results found that many of the students failed to remember the initial data provided to them at the onset of the study, which provided the effect of misinformation on the memory of the participant: “These analyses revealed a significant main effect for misinformation items, F(1, 163) = 9.89, p = .002, ηp2 = .06, 90 % CI for effect size = [.01, .12] (Cochran et al, 2016, p.721). This data confirms that the students had not retained the original memory of the crimes committed, which resulted in a large-scale choice blindness. In this manner, the multiple –choice segment of this study exposed memory lapses as part of the re-evaluation process of the participant 's memories. Therefore, misinformation was not properly identified in the remembrance of these criminal scenarios.

Memories can be rebuilt from numerous points of supply and they can alter after display of deceiving information. In addition, people occasionally remember situations that never took place. These are called false memories. Inaccuracies in a memory can have a severe aftermath, for instance eyewitness misidentification. Previous studies have discovered that false memories can emerge from different modes. The misinformation procedure is a prevalent practice of studying false memories in the laboratory. Participants in this procedure often affiliate the deceptive information that wasn’t in the original data through stimuli and absorb it into their memory. There’s also a process of making false memories in a lab with Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm.

It is very important to used our memories to get new information so that our memories can function. Many things that have to do with life can cause our memories to changed and to created anew different memory in our mine. For instance, our imagination and the leading questions or different reminiscences of others people. Sometime we can't trust our memories, nevertheless they can be helpful to lead to a questions about the illegal convictions that are victims or witnesses. Our memories must be used to help the lawful system to plot the danger. According to the author, Elizabeth Loftus she explained that memories are valuable, they give us personality also created a shared past that collects us with family and friends. Although, memories are

Memory is a reconstructive process, where someone recall information from the past that will be their autobiography and it can be affected by many different factors, and according to the first study provided below, all memories are wrong to some extent. But what is important for memories is whether we can differentiate between accurate and inaccurate ones. The first study has tested two different approaches on subjects, and neither were helpful in determining the validity of a memory. On the other hand, in the fourth study it was concluded that it is possible to assess whether a particular eyewitness is true or false based on the approach the witness used to recall the information. Also, it was found in the third research that subjects were

This study, and many before it, relied on three main conditions that will result in false memory. First of all, the participants must believe that the suggested memory

Memory used for testimony and convictions can be a very controversial way to incarcerate those who are being accused of a crime. For instance, some may believe that witness statements are reliable evidence able to prove someone’s innocence or guiltiness. Despite this, witness statements may contain lies or hidden, yet essential, parts of the truth that had been purposefully forgotten, which is also known as repression. In addition,witnesses or victims who have experienced trauma will most likely experience amnesia as a result of facing an appalling act. Memories of witnesses or victims should not be used to convict people who are allegedly charged with a crime.

Many people would swear that they are able to remember an event that happened to them with complete accuracy. However, this may not always be the case. Over time, it is not uncommon for people’s memories to fade and deteriorate, but what many don’t realize is that it’s possible for memories to actually transform themselves or be created entirely. With the possibility of memories being changed or fabricated by the human mind, can memory really be trusted?