SAGE Journal Articles
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Abstract
Popular history films sometimes contain major historical inaccuracies. Two experiments investigated how watching such films influences people's ability to remember associated texts. Subjects watched film clips and studied texts about various historical topics. Whereas the texts contained only correct information, the film clips contained both correct information (consistent with the text) and misinformation (contradicted by the text). Before watching each clip, subjects received a specific warning, a general warning, or no warning about the misinformation. One week later, they returned for a cued-recall test about the texts. Watching a film clip increased correct recall of consistent information relative to recall of the same information when subjects did not see the clip. However, when the information in the film contradicted the text, subjects often (falsely) recalled misinformation from the film. The specific warning substantially reduced this misinformation effect. Teachers should use popular history films with caution and should warn students about major inaccuracies in the films.
Discussion questions:
- According to the results of this study, what are the positive and negative effects on memory for historical information of watching historical films?
- Why did the researchers include two read/view conditions, one where they watched the film first and one where they read the text first?
- What effect did warning the participants of inaccurate information in the films have on their memory for the historical information they were learning?
Abstract
In this article I discuss how false memories do not always have to be associated with negative outcomes. Indeed, under some circumstances, memory illusions, like other illusions more generally, can have positive consequences. I discuss these consequences in the context of the adaptive function of memory, including how false memories can have fitness-relevant benefits for subsequent behavior and problem solving. My hope is that this article changes how illusions are conceptualized, especially those arising from memory. Rather than being a “demon” that vexes our theories of memory, illusions can be thought of as sometimes having positive consequences much in the same way as many of the other outputs of a very powerful, adaptive memory system.
Discussion questions:
- According to the author, false memories can be “adaptive.” Explain what he means by this.
- In what way are false memories a product of the way that memory evolved in early in humans?
- How can researchers test the idea that false memories may have positive effects?
Abstract
Remembering an episode from even the recent past may involve a blend of fiction and fact. We discuss a straightforward laboratory paradigm that is proving useful in the study of false memories of simple episodes. In this paradigm, subjects study lists of 15 related words (bed, rest, awake …) that are all related to a critical word that is not presented (sleep). Later, subjects recall and recognize the critical missing word with about the same probability that they remember words from the list. This memory illusion is resistant to people's attempts to avoid it. We argue that similar memory errors are commonplace and are a natural outcome of an intelligent cognitive system, which makes inferences about incoming information. Therefore, memory illusions, like perceptual illusions, are a consequence of normal human information processing and offer a window for examining basic cognitive processes.
Discussion questions:
- How does the DRM paradigm described in this article experimentally create false memories?
- What is the significance of the large number of “remember” responses found for critical lures?
- What can we learn about the type of memory that is spared in Alzheimer’s patients from the results showing that they falsely recall critical lures as often as other groups of subjects?