Re: [Phys-l] Memory and how it works

["John Clement" <clement@hal-pc.org>]

The article actually details a number of pieces of evidence all of which can
be verified.  For example people who swear they saw something on TV when
there was never any footage of the event.

My favorite experiment demonstrating the malleability of memory and how it
can easily be falsified is the red/blue shirt experiment:
The professor came to class wearing a bright red shirt which was unusual and
called it to students' attention.  Then the next class period he asks then
what color they say previously for his shirt.  He then asks students to just
picture him as wearing a blue shirt on the previous day.  Just pretend.
Then the next class day he hands out a quiz on the shirt color.  A large
fraction of students circle blue.  They will even insist vehemently that it
really was blue, despite what other students say.  He simply brainwashed the
students, with their cooperation.

Ronald Regan was fond of telling stories which illustrated his beliefs, but
unfortunately many of them were false and he changed them to support his
beliefs.  He apparently believed them to be true accounts that he had hear.
So, OK, he had Alzheimers.  But you see this all the time in students who
will insist they saw something different in a demo from what actually
happened.  They are not stupid, or willful, but rather their paradigms
betrayed them.  Literally you remember what you believe, and you observe
what you think should be there and at the same time important information is
invisible.  Then you change your memories to fit your preconceptions, or
what other people may expect.  Implanting false memories and changing the
original memory is actually fairly easy.

So the article is worth reading.  And it is not very long.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX



> I haven't read it so I can't comment.  I thought I referred to the
> article I read very recently, likely the NYer about how memory was
> malleable.  The example used was of the false conviction of a person
> identified by the VICTIM!   The prosecuting attorney, as a result,
> has completely changed his method of eliciting testimony from
> witnesses in particular in the use of photographic and live line ups.
>
> bc thinks he's required to find the article.