RepressedRecoveredFalse Memories

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Repressed/Recovered/False Memories
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True or False?
Memories for events change with time?
TRUE Memories for traumatic events change with
time? TRUE Vivid memories can be created for
events that did not actually happen of which
people can be very confident. TRUE Memories can
be created for traumatic events that did not
actually happen but only in children.
FALSE Children do not forget sexual abuse.
FALSE Just thinking about doing something may
create a memory of having actually done it. TRUE
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A few infamous court cases

• Nadean Cool - satanic past experience, sexual
  and physical child abuse
• award for malpractice 2.4 M
• Beth Rutherford - accused father of rape
• award for malpractice 1M
• This month
• Former priest, Paul Shanley, convicted of rape on
  the sole basis of victims testimony, which had
  been repressed for 20 years
• Elizabeth Loftus was the defenses only witness

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Freud and Repression

• Austrian neurologist
• Originator of psychoanalysis
• Believed that unconscious motives controlled much
  of behavior

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Freud and Repression

• Repression is one of Freuds defense mechanisms
• Painful feelings or memories are pushed out of
  consciousness, though they still influence
  behavior
• Not necessarily a conscious process, the
  unconscious was a cause and effect of repression

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Psychoanalysis and Repression

• In psychoanalysis, patient is encouraged to speak
  freely, allowing the unconscious to come to the
  fore
• The analyst gains information from patient and
  uses it to put together a picture of what may be
  causing problems
• ...the principal point is that I should guess
  the traumatic secret and tell it to the patient
  straight out...
• ...it is of use if we can guess the way in which
  things are connected up and tell the patient
  before we have uncovered it.

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Bad Freud

• Ideas were based on biased speculation, not
  science
• There is no substantial evidence for the Freudian
  concept of repression
• Psychoanalysis itself is a non-scientific
  endeavor, which has very little therapeutic
  benefit
• It must be admitted that women have but little
  sense of justice, and this is no doubt connected
  with the preponderance of envy in their mental
  life.

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Good Freud

• The role of the subconscious
• in guiding behavior
• Focus on mental health
• Philosophy, not science
• Admittedly an unusual state, but not one that
  can be stigmatized as pathological.
• Freud referring to romantic love in Civilization
  and its Discontents

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Forgetting Trauma?

• McNally et al contrast two views
• approximately a third of sexually abused victims
  report some period of their lives where they did
  not remember anything about the abuse and later
  recovered the abuse.
• Brown et al (1998)

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Forgetting trauma?

• Contrast with
• The Myth of Repressed Memory
• Loftus and Ketcham (1994)

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Briere Conte (1993)

• Question put to sexual abuse victims
• Was there ever a time when you could not remember
  the forced sexual experience?
• 59 responded yes
• What does this mean?

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Briere Conte (1993)

• Does saying yes to question mean that the
  person tried to remember event but couldnt?
• Or does it mean that there were times when the
  person did not think of the abuse?
• Not thinking about something is not the same as
  not remembering it and it is certainly not
  amnesia

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Possible Explanations

• Childhood amnesia
• from 0-3, no real episodic memories
• inability to grasp significance of events until
  adulthood
• Ordinary forgetting
• if no reminders are present, we forget most of
  what happens
• Everyday forgetfulness
• trauma patients (combat, auto accidents) often
  have memory complaints

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Psychological Characteristics of People Reporting
Repressed Memory

• McNally et al compared psychological traits of
  persons reporting
• repressed memories of abuse
• recovered memories of abuse
• continuous memories of abuse
• age-matched controls

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Psychological Characteristics of People Reporting
Repressed Memory

• McNallys results
• Repressed group showed more depression and PTSD
  symptoms than all others
• Those who believe they have repressed memories of
  abuse are more psychologically distressed than
  those who have never forgotten abuse
• No proof of abuse in any of the groups
• The chicken and egg problem

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Summary

• Empirical data do not support the idea of
  repressed memory (unconscious repression of
  traumatic memories from consciousness)
• Victims of trauma often try not to think about
  event, sometimes they succeed
• Not thinking about trauma does not imply that
  there is no memory for it

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How to create false memories

• Psychological research has documented numerous
  ways in which memory can be manipulated
• Example from repressed memory patients (DRM
  paradigm)
• Examples from normal people

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People reporting repressed memories DRM

• Clancy et al compared same groups as before on
  DRM paradigm
• No general memory impairment
• Recovered memory group was more likely to have
  false memory of cue word than the other groups
  (even higher than repressed group)

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What does this mean?

• DRM paradigm measures gist memory
• Results show an over-reliance on gist in
  recovered memory patients
• Previous experience with difficult childhood
  (e.g., neglect) may bias such responding, leading
  people to believe abuse occurred when it may not
  have.

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How to create a false memory

• Participants 20 confederates recruited a
  family memory to be in the study
• 3 true photos and one false photo
• The Step-Wise interview procedure
• 3 interviews over 2 week period

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Example Interview
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Debriefing
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Imagination Inflation
Imagination Inflation imagining an event
increases subjective confidence that the event
actually happened.
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Clearly adults (perhaps you) are
suggestible. Are children more or less so?
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Childrens False Memory Study
For 10 consecutive weeks, preschool children were
interviewed by a trained adult Child shown set
of cards, each w/ different event Card read to
child, asked if event ever happened to
them e.g., Got finger caught in a mousetrap and
had to go to hospital to get the trap
off. Think real heard, and tell me if this ever
happened to you. Can you remember going to the
hospital with the mousetrap on your finger?
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After 10 wks, tested by new adult. Tell me if
this ever happened to youe.g., mousetrap Can
you tell me more? What did you see? Who was with
you? etc. depending on each childs answers.

• My brother Colin was trying to get Blowtorch
  from me, and I wouldnt let him take it from me,
  so he pushed me into the wood pile where the
  mouse trap was. And then my finger got caught in
  it. And then we went to the hospital, and my
  mommy, daddy, and Colin drove me there, to the
  hospital in our van, because it was far away. And
  the doctor put a bandage on this finger
  indicating which.

In one study 58 of the preschoolers produced
false narratives to one or more of the fictitious
events, with 25 of the children doing so to the
majority!
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Mickey Mouse vs. Bugs Bunny

• The engagement of imagination can affect memory
• Reference to autobiographical memories can lead
  to false recollection
• How might advertising influence memory?

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Experiment 1

• Can advertising that references autobiographical
  experience alter memory confidence?
• 107 subjects were given a list of 20 childhood
  events and asked whether they had occurred under
  the age of 10
• Rated on a scale of 0 definitely did not happen
  to 100 definitely did happen
• Have you ever shaken hands with a character at a
  theme resort?

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Experiment 1

• The following week, half were given the Mickey ad
  (including the suggestion of shaking hands with
  Mickey) and half were given a control ad
• Rating of ads on various scales
• A few minutes later, subjects fill out childhood
  experiences inventory again.
• Subjects who were initially confident that they
  HAD shaken hands with cartoon character were
  excluded leaving 73 subjects (41 Mickey, 32
  Control)

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Results

• Subjects seeing the Mickey ad showed
  significantly increased confidence that they had
  shaken hands with Mickey
• Control group went down in confidence
• This is not necessarily a false memory, it is
  possible

Change from 1 to 2
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Experiment 2

• Can advertising that references autobiographical
  experience influence memories that never
  happened?
• 167 subjects completed childhood experience scale
  
• including Have you ever shaken hands with a
  cartoon character in a theme park?

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Bugs
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Experiment 2

• The following week, 1/3 were given ad with Bugs
  at Disneyland, 1/3 Little Mermaid at Disneyland,
  1/3 nonautobiographical Disney ad.
• Rating of ads on various scales
• A few minutes later, subjects fill out childhood
  experiences inventory again.
• Subjects who were initially confident that they
  HAD shaken hands with cartoon character were
  excluded leaving 106 subjects (34 Little Mermaid,
  36 Bugs, 34 nonautobiographical)

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Experiment 2 Results

• All the ads increased confidence
• Specific mention of 1 of the 2 impossible
  characters was more effective than non-auto
  biographical (p
• Advertising increases confidence in memory for
  impossible events

Change from 1 to 2
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Take-home points
Memories for personally experienced traumatic
events can be altered by new experiences.
Entire events even impossible ones - that
never happened can enter into memory. Conversely,
entire events can be forgotten. Individuals
from preschool to adulthood are susceptible to
memory distortion. Even when memory is vivid and
compelling, it does not necessarily mean that it
is accurate.
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Declarative memory is imperfect, subject to error
and reconstruction, distortion and dissociations
from confidence and accuracy. While memory of
trauma may be forgotten, the jury is still out on
repressed/recovered memories. Pre-existing
psychological distress may predispose individuals
to over-reliance on gist memory... ...leading
people to believe abuse occurred when there may
have been none.