OHIO ASSOCIATION OF RESPONSIBLE MENTAL HEALTH PRACTICES

October 2001

     Elizabeth Loftus continues to do her great work in showing how easy False Memories are created.                                                 

                                                                                      ~Carole

"Researchers create false memories with greatest of ease  Bugs planted in test subjects' minds"

By Joseph Brean

NATIONAL POST A study in which subjects were led to recall events that never took place suggests false memories can be easily created, according to a prominent U.S. psychologist. By showing test subjects fake advertisements, Dr. Elizabeth Loftus duped them into believing they had met Bugs Bunny at Disneyland, even though Bugs is a Warner Brothers cartoon character and would never appear at the Disney theme park.

  The study at the University of Washington was set up to investigate how people create memories, and the results reveal that the process is fragile and open to suggestion, said Jacquie Pickrell, a partner in the study. Dr. Loftus and Ms. Pickrell, who is a doctoral student, will present their results on Sunday in Toronto to the American Psychological Association's annual meeting, where Dr. Loftus will receive the William James Fellow award for psychological research. "The frightening thing about this study is that it suggests how easily a false memory can be created," Ms. Pickrell said.

  Dr. Loftus and Ms. Pickrell divided 120 subjects into four groups under the pretense that they were to evaluate advertisements and answer questions about a trip to Disneyland. The first group saw a Disneyland ad that mentioned no cartoon characters. The second saw the same ad but they sat in a room with a four-foot-tall cardboard figure of Bugs Bunny. The third group read a fake Disneyland ad with Bugs Bunny in it, and the fourth saw the fake ad as well as the cardboard rabbit.

  Less than 10% of the first two groups reported having met Bugs Bunny, but 30% of the third group and 40% of the fourth group later reported that they either remembered meeting Bugs Bunny at Disneyland, or simply "knew" that they had. "'Remember' means the people actually recall meeting and shaking hands with Bugs," Ms. Pickrell said. " 'Knowing' means they have no real memory, but are sure that it happened, just as they have no memory of having their umbilical cord being cut when they were born but know it happened."

  The study stands firmly in one camp of the debate over repressed memories and whether they can be trusted once they are retrieved. In the 1990s, memories purportedly recovered in the course of therapy served as the basis for many charges of physical and sexual abuse. Courts have become reluctant to trust victims' repressed memories of alleged crimes, since their retrieval under hypnosis is often guided by a therapist. Courts in Minnesota, California, and New Hampshire have banned uncorroborated repressed memories as evidence.

  George Franklin, a California man who spent six years in prison for the 1969 murder of a young girl, was the first person convicted in the United States on the basis of repressed memory evidence. He was freed after it was revealed that his daughter, whose memory of the attack led to his conviction, may have lied about having been hypnotized before the trial.

  Dr. Loftus is an outspoken skeptic of recovered memories, and testified as an expert witness at Mr. Franklin's trial. She has written many articles describing "how exposure to misinformation induces memory distortion," and is the author of The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse. Her latest study purports to show that recognizing the possibility of a memory, either on one's own or at the urging of a researcher or therapist, can lead to the belief that it is true. "Someone saying, 'I know it could have happened,' is taking the first step of actually creating a memory," Ms. Pickrell said. The study shows how "vulnerable and malleable" memory is, Ms. Pickrell said.

  "We are interested in how people create their autobiographical references, or memory. Through this process they might be altering their own memories," Ms. Pickrell said. "Nostalgic advertising works in a similar manner. Hallmark, McDonald's and Disney have very effective nostalgic advertising that can change people's buying habits. You may not have had a great experience the last time you visited Disneyland or McDonald's, but the ads may be inadvertently creating the impression that they had a wonderful time and leaving viewers with that memory. "If ads can get people to believe they had an experience they never had, that is pretty powerful," Ms. Pickrell said.

Maryellen and Carole had the October newsletter ready to go, proud of ourselves for being early, when September 11, 2001 happened. The best thing about the internet is the dozens of great pictures, poems, stories, ideas, that come across in a horrific event like this. Below are just two of them. Some were such a comfort as I thanked my God for moving, last January, our son from the 100th floor of the Trade Center to another office in New Jersey. So far his office in New York is missing over 200 with 17 confirmed dead. To all who have lost friends and loved ones our thoughts, prayers, and love.                                                        Carole and Bob

September 11, 2001

by B. B. Bray

Terror has unleashed a massive barrage,

Eliciting both shock and sorrow.

But witness extraordinary courage,

Which will sustain us through every tomorrow.

In disbelief we watch history unfold,

Each tableau we shall always remember.

With much of the story not yet told,

Throughout these dark days of September.

As a country united we mourn,

The staggering number of lives lost,

Our flag may be tattered and torn,

Will we ever measure the cost?

No doubt we're a nation of freedom,

The rights we enjoy among the best,

Just a small part of God's glorious kingdom,

Where the heart of liberty rests.

Solidarity and pride are our strengths,

Times like this they serve us quite well,

Our defenders will go to great lengths,

As patriotism resonates like a bell.

In our hearts resides fervent hope,

Optimistic prayers for all affected,

Dear Lord help us through, help us cope,

Let each and every one be protected.

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