When you miss the good old days that never existed
“Eyewitnesses who point their finger at innocent defendants are not liars, for they genuinely believe in the truth of their testimony,” Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, a cognitive psychologist and memory scientist said decades ago. “Our memories can be changed, inextricably altered, and that what we think we know, what we believe with all our hearts, is not necessarily the truth.”
This week Dr. Loftus, together with scientists from the U.S. and Ireland published a new study in the journal Psychological Science in which the researchers discovered that after being exposed to fake news, we might create false memories.
The scientists presented several news pieces - some of them false- to more than 3,000 voters the week before the 2018 abortion referendum in Ireland and found that many voters claimed to have memories of the [made-up] stories they had read about. It’s worth noting that participants were more likely to create false memories after they came across stories consistent with their beliefs.
There’s an abundance of evidence suggesting the fallibility of our memory. “Researchers have found that most of us hold false memories for many things, ranging from our own personal preferences and choices to memories of events from earlier in our lives,” writes Kendra Cherry, a psychological rehabilitation specialist.