False Memories are Affecting Us All Essay - 1596 Words

Intro: What Are False Memories? Have you every specifically remembered an event such as going to a basketball game then you were reminded by someone that you didn’t go because you were sick or something. If so, you have created a false memory. The study of false memories began in the early 1990’s when people started to report â€Å"recovered† memories of abuse (Laney Loftus 1). To understand how false memories work, you first need a basic understanding of how the memory works. In general your brain stores memories in different ways depending on what type of memory they are. For example short term memories are most often stored in acoustic form but long term memories are stored by their meanings (Foster 3). Because of this, long term memories†¦show more content†¦Section One: The Debate over False Memories False memories have been studied science the early 1990’s because they have become controversial topic. In the beginning they was no thought th at your memory would be unfaithful and that if you had a memory that you â€Å"recovered† it had to be true because your memory couldn’t fail you. Could it? Well one woman’s disbelief caused her, Susan Clancy, who was a Harvard University graduate student at the time decided that while everyone else was arguing over the accuracy of recovered memories, she would create a study on them (Grierson 1). Clancy first started out by interviewing her subjects that said to have recovered memories of abuse after they had gone through therapy. The stories were horrifying but she was brought up to believe that what they were telling her was true. But, soon after she found herself wondering if they had even really went through these events that they â€Å"recovered†. When she spoke out against the recovered memory patients saying that they couldn’t of forgotten such a traumatic memory and that they had created a false memory by going to the therapy the hate ma il started coming in (Grierson 3). Throughout this time many other scientists started to do more and more research on false memories and most of the studies have concluded with the same information. â€Å"The false memory researchers point to other research showing that traumatic events are normally remembered all too well. They argue thatShow MoreRelatedThe Validity of Recovered Memories1685 Words   |  7 PagesOne: The Validity of Recovered Memories The sudden recovery of repressed memories from a traumatic event such as childhood sexual abuse can be both validating and confusing for clients that are seeking help with various problems. These new memories might be able to help client identify the cause of their feelings and issues that are affecting their life. 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