94 | June• 2018
FALSE MEMORIES
“Memoryisrightlyconsidered
fundamentaltooursenseofwhowe
are and many people instinctively
feel it’s wrong to interfere with a
person’ssenseofself,evenifthey
consent.”
Nevertheless, one of the most im-
portant focuses of future memory
research relates to the criminal jus-
ticesystemandeducatinglawen-
forcersonthesubject.
“Alotofpolicedon’tknowabout
this. A lot of law yers. It’s shocking,”
Shaw states. “It should be part of
their core curriculum.”NOW 62, PETER REILLYworksasa
car-partssalesmaninConnecticut,
butheremainsinterestedincases
similar to his own.
In an interview withhe New York
Timesin 1997, Peter explained, “I’d
just as soon forget and move on, but
it’s such an important issue and it
couldaffectanybody.Ihaveare-
sponsibility to make people aware.”
he mystery of his mother’s murder
remains unsolved.
Acceptingthatourmemoriesare
vulnerableandthatourpastisal-
waysafiction(tosomedegree)
doesn’thavetobedepressing.
“Insomeway,ifyouremove
theweightthatpeopleoften
placeontheirpast,it’sfree-
ing,”saysShaw.“We’restory-
tellers, and what matters is
now. Accepting that only makes
us stronger.” PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCKDIY MEMORY
HACKING
To see how easily the brain
createsfalsememories,trythis
testonafriend.Read them the following
list of words: bed, rest, awake,
tired, dream, wake, snooze,
blanket, doze, slumber, snore,
nap, peace, yawn, drowsy.Aminutelater,askthemto
recall the words. If one of their
remembered words is “sleep”,
congratulations – you’ve just
successfully implanted a false
memory by association.
From the studyCreating False Memories:
RememberingWordsNotPresentedIn
Listsby Henry L. Roedigger III and
Kathleen B. McDermott