False Memories: A Skelton Lurking in Memory’s Closet

Running head: FALSE MEMORY

False Memories: A Skelton Lurking in Memory’s Closet

Cherese R. Cobb

Maryville College

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Abstract

The purpose of the study is to further investigate the phenomenon

of false memory generation. The participants, chosen because of

their acquaintanceship with the experimenters, studied eight

original faces. The participants then viewed two side by side

faces and determined each face’s originality. The hypothesis has

two parts. The first part of the hypothesis is that the majority

of participants will incorporate a non-original face viewed

multiple times into their memory of the eight original faces.

The second part of the hypothesis is that participants who have a

lower stress and hunger level but a higher alertness level will

generate a lower number of false memories. The number of false

memories constructed and each participant’s stress, hunger, and

alertness level were measured. The data was analyzed using a t-

test. The results from this study suggest that false memories

can be crafted in long term memory which is not consistent with

previous literature.

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False Memories: A Skeleton Lurking in Memory’s Closet

Memory is essential to human functioning. Acting like a

sieve, it filters out mundane events while clutching onto

meaningful fragments of one’s present and past knowledge to

construct a holistic view of the world. Likewise, the human mind

acts like a closet storing these evocative tidbits in neatly

labeled boxes. However, these fragmented memories are likely to

become filled with mothballs. Therefore, like a skeleton hanging

in memory’s closet, individuals are likely to take in new

information to fill in these holes shaking that memory’s box.

The fact that memory is like shifting sand is evident in the

lives of most individuals. For example, an individual may firmly

believe that he or she remembers their exact actions and thoughts

during a national tragedy such as 9/11. However, he or she most

likely has been bombarded with multiple media stories pertaining

to the national catastrophe. He or she has also probably

discussed this event multiple times with others allowing novel

information, like a Trojan horse, to sneak into his or her

memories. Therefore, what is left in memory’s box is not the

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original memory but a skewed or false memory. Because the

validity of human memory is essential in constructing an

individual’s self-identity and global view, extensive research

has been conducted to investigate how humans store memories as

well as how easily memories can be corrupted.

Loftus and Pickerel (1995) conducted a study that focused on

how misleading post-event information can alter a person’s memory

as well as lead to the creation of false memories of objects or

events that are non-existent. First, the authors hypothesized

that individuals would incorporate false childhood events into

their memory when supplied by loved ones. Loftus and Pickerel

(1995) also hypothesized that individuals would create false

recalls of experiences in response to misleading information and

the social demands of having to divulge the event repeatedly.

This study measured both the confidence of an individual’s memory

recall and the number of pure memories versus false memories

recollected (Loftus & Pickrell, 1995). It was learned that people

can be led to believe that entire events happened to them after

suggestions to that effect. Likewise, the researchers found that

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individuals using schemas as a skeleton to build background

information on generate false memories under social pressure

(1995).

To expand on the previously mentioned study, Geraerts,

Bernstein, Merckelbach, Linders, Raymaekers, and Loftus (2008)

again studied the creation of false childhood memories. However,

this time the researchers added a twist. The authors wanted to

explore if a false memory about a particular event in the past,

such as getting sick after eating egg salad, would affect future

behavior, such as the participant avoiding egg salad sandwiches

(Geraerts et al., 2008). The study also explored whether

participants would be believers or nonbelievers, meaning the

individuals did or did not confidently believe that the egg salad

episode took place in their childhoods (Geraerts et al., 2008).

The results of this study showed, even though the majority of

subjects were nonbelievers, that most participants either ate

substantially less egg salad sandwiches or sustained from eating

them completely (Geraerts et al., 2008).

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Flegal, Atkins, and Reuter-Lorenz (2010) expanded the

research on false memory generation by examining whether short

term or long term memory is more susceptible to distortion.

Since short term memory has a greater significantly number of

verbatim traces, which are used to combat false memory

production, the authors hypothesized that participants under

short term memory conditions would generate a lower quantity of

distorted memories (Flegal et al., 2010). To test their theory,

they had the participants study a related lure, target lure, or

unrelated lure (Flegal et al., 2010). The experimenters then had

participants complete a novel math problem in order to ensure

that the critical lure had dissipated from their short term

memory. After participants identified the lure for the short

term memory trial, they were distracted by either a symbolic or

numeric confidence rating system. The researchers then measured

long term memory distortion (Flegal et al., 2010). The authors’

hypothesis was not supported; they found that false memories are

more likely to rear their head in short term memory (Flegal et

al., 2010).

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As shown in previous research, an individual's memories can

be skewed in a mater of seconds (Flegal et al., 2010).

Futhermore, an individual can be led to believe that events,

never actually occurring, took place earlier in their life

(Loftus & Pickrell, 1995). Likewise, false memories can affect an

individual’s behavior for a short period of time, whether they

believe the event happened or not (Geraerts et al., 2008).

Therefore, it is clear that false memories, like memory, shape us

as individuals.

Our current research builds on previous work examining false

memory creation under short term and long term memory conditions

concerning critical lures. The purpose of the study is to further

investigate the phenomenon of false memory generation. The

hypothesis of this study has two parts. The first part of the

hypothesis is that the majority of participants will incorporate

a non-original face viewed multiple times into their memory of

the eight original faces. The second part of the hypothesis is

that participants who have a lower stress and hunger level but a

higher alertness level will generate a lower number of false

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memories. The independent variable in this study is whether the

participant created a false memory and the dependent variables

are the participants’ hunger, stress, and alertness levels, which

had 4 levels (1; not at all, 2; slightly, 3; moderately, and 4;

very).

Method

Participants

The group of participants included 20 individuals who were

recruited by the students in a Human Thought and Learning course

at a southeastern private liberal arts college. Participants were

not recruited based on their affiliation with a specific age

group, religion, ethnicity, level of education, or health status.

However, an equal number of males (n=10) and females (n=10) were

recruited for the study. All participants were chosen based on

their acquaintance with an experimenter and their availability to

complete the experiment. All participants, ranging from age 17

to 53, completed an informed consent form (see appendix A).

Materials

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All of the participants in this study were given five

minutes to examine eight faces modified from www.faceresearch.org

(DeBruine & Jones, 2010). In order to keep track of the

participants’ study time, each experimenter used a timepiece.

Each of the original eight faces was posted in the center of a

single PowerPoint slide on a white background (see appendix C).

The experimenters recorded the data on a spreadsheet (see

appendix B) and identified whether or not each face chosen was

one of the original eight. Participants were also asked to

answer five questions during debriefing, which were recorded with

writing utensil and paper on the data sheet.

Design and Procedure

A group of five students in a Human Thought and Learning

class recruited four participants (each student obtained data

from at least two males and two females) to complete the study.

All of the participants were told that the study’s purpose was to

explore how individuals use working memory. Every participant

was allotted a maximum of five minutes to study eight slides in a

PowerPoint containing average looking faces adapted from

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www.faceresearch.org (DeBruine & Jones, 2010). The following

four slides presented one of the original eight faces beside one

non-original face. The final slide presented a previously viewed

non-original face and a completely new non-original face.

Participants were asked to identify original faces by choosing

its location, right or left.

After the experiment was complete, the participants were

asked five questions (1) have you participated in any other

psychological studies before? (2) what do you think the study was

about? (3) how stressed are you right now? (4) how alert do you

feel right now? (5) how hungry do you feel right now? The latter

three questions were rated on a scale ranging from 1 (not at all

stressed, hungry, or alert) to 4 (very stressed, hungry, or

alert). These questions were asked to explore varying states that

might promote or inhibit the formation of a false memory. All

results were compiled and analyzed individually outside of class.

Results

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In this experiment, it was expected that the previously

viewed non-original face in the last PowerPoint slide would

induce a false memory. The independent variable of focus for this

study was whether the participant created a false memory and was

a between subjects variable. The dependent variables were the

participants’ hunger, stress, and alertness levels, which had 4

levels (1; not at all, 2; slightly, 3; moderately, and 4; very).

To investigate the significance of the number of

participants who generated a false memory, we conducted an

analysis on the independent variable’s descriptive statistics,

using a 95% confidence interval. We expected that the majority

of participants would recognize the non-original face from the

fourth slide on the last slide as one of the original faces. The

descriptive statistics support our hypothesis showing that 75%

+/- .44 of participants (N=20) constructed a false memory.

In addition, it was hypothesized that there may be a

difference between stress, hunger, and alertness levels and the

number of false memories generated. The independent variable in

this study is whether the participant created a false memory.

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Again, the dependent variables were the participants’ hunger,

stress, and alertness levels, which had 4 levels (1; not at all,

2; slightly, 3; moderately, and 4; very) and was a between

subjects variable.

To investigate the significance of the dependent variable,

three between subjects t-tests were conducted. First, we

expected that participants who generated a false memory would be

hungrier than participants who did not create a false memory. The

t-test does not support our hypothesis showing no significant

difference between the four levels of hunger; t (18= 1.26, p=.22).

Accordingly, the hunger variable acted in the predicted manner

with the hungrier participants producing more false memories

(M=1.8) than the less hungry participants (M=1.2).

Secondly, we expected that participants who generated a

false memory would be less alert than participants who did not

generate a false memory. The t-test does not support our

hypothesis showing no significant difference between the four

levels of alertness; t (18= -1.16, p=.25). Consequently, the

alert variable did not act in the predicted manner with more

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alert participants producing less false memories (M=3.26) than

the less alert participants (M=3.2).

Finally, we expected that participants who generated a false

memory would be more stressed than participants who did not craft

a false memory. The t-test does not support our hypothesis

showing no significant difference between the four levels of

stress; t (18= .14 p=.88). Likewise, the stress variable did not

act in the predicted manner with more stressed participants

producing less false memories (M=1.67) than the less stressed

participants (M=2.2).

Discussion

The purpose of the study was to further investigate the

phenomenon of false memory generation. The first part of the

hypothesis was that the majority of participants would

incorporate a non-original face viewed multiple times into their

long term memory of the eight original faces. The second part

of the hypothesis was that participants who have a lower stress

and hunger level but a higher alertness level would generate a

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lower number of false memories. The number of false memories

constructed along with each participant’s stress, hunger, and

alertness level were measured. The hypothesis was partially

supported.

The results show that the majority of participants’

constructed false facial memories. Likewise, it was found that

hungrier participants produced more false memories. The hunger

variable, however, was not statistically significant. Inversely,

we found that alertness and stress levels decreased participants’

generation of false memories. Like the hunger variable, the

alertness and stress variables were not statistically

significant. Perhaps, increased alertness and stress levels

activate verbatim traces, used to monitor and oppose false memory

creation (Geraert2008). Likewise, it is also possible that the

hunger, alertness, and stress variable did not act in the

hypothesized manner due to the small pool of participants.

The results of this study are similar to the findings of

Loftus and Pickerel (1995) in that the presentation of a non-

original face successfully resulted in the participants producing

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a false memory. Contrary to the study conducted by Flegal,

Atkins, and Reuter-Lorenz (2010), we focused solely on the

effects of false memory creation in long term memory and found

that ¾ of participants under this condition generated a false

memory. This may be due to the lack of a short term memory group

in our study. Likewise, the results could have been thrown off

due to an abundance of visual learners in our experimental group.

Another possible limitation of our study was that several

participants had been in psychological studies previously and may

have been more cautious in studying the original eight faces

presented. Likewise, the experimental conditions (time of day)

were inconsistent, which may have skewed hunger, stress, and

alertness variables.

Future studies may wish to implement the research in a

laboratory setting with a significantly larger participant pool.

Likewise, these studies could examine individually how stress,

hunger, and alertness play a role in the generation of false

memories by studying the extremes of each variable. Researcher

may also wish to look at individual suggestibility, which may

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increase or decrease the likelihood of false memory creation. In

addition, personal learning style should be assessed. Learning

styles may affect the vulnerability of false memory formation.

For example, a visual learner may be less likely to create a

false memory when examining faces.

This study has shown that false memories can be generated

when observing similar, normal faces for the majority of

individuals in this study. While we cannot make claims about the

percentage of population that might create a similar false

memory, this study does provide proof of the existence of false

memories. These finding have implications for society at large.

The results of this study show that we cannot take remembrance of

events with 100% face value. For example, the child who is

abused or the suspect of a crime should only be questioned once

as multiple interrogations will distort the original memory.

Likewise, these results prove that those who claim to have been

abducted by space aliens; who claim to have lived multiple lives;

or have been involved in satanic-ritual abuse may not simply be

mentally ill but are likely a product of false memory generation.

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Finally, there are often times when individuals claim to

experience dé jà vu when seeing another person. It may be that

such experiences do not exist. Rather, the individual may be

seeing someone who aligns closely facially or physically to

someone the individual knows well, meaning that he or she has

created a false memory.

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References

DeBruine, L. & Jones, B. (2010). Make an average face. Face

Research: Psychology

Experiments about Faces and Voices. Retrieved from

http://www.faceresearch.org

/demos/average.

Flegal, K. E., Atkins, A. S., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. (2010).

False memories seconds later: the rapid and compelling onset

of illusory recognition. Experimental Psychology, 36(5), 1331-

1338. doi:10.1037/A0019903

Geraerts, E., Bernstein, D. M., Merckelbach, H., Linders, C.,

Raymaekers, L., & Loftus, E. F. (2008). Lasting false

beliefs and their behavioral consequences. Psychological Science,

19(8), 749-753.

Loftus, E.F. & Pickrell, J.E. (1995). The formation of false

memories. Psychiatric Annals, 25,

720-725.

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Running head: FALSE MEMORY 19


Appendix A

Researcher’s Name:___________________________________________

No identifying information is ever associated with your data: your data is completely anonymous.

Your participation in this research is voluntary; you have the right to withdraw at any point of the study, for any reason.

If you agree to participate, please sign below

Respondent ___________________________ Date _____________

If you have any questions or concerns about the project, or wouldlike to know more about the results of the study, please contact:

Dr. Karen BealeSutton room 118

Maryville College981-8166

[email protected]

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mailto:[email protected]


Appendix B

Experimenter Name: ______________________ Participant Identification #:___________

1. Which face is the original?

__________Left Face (1) ____________Right Face (2)









Total number of original faces recognized=________________

Total number of non-original faces recognized:_____________

Additional Information

Participant: ______Male or _________ Female Age: ____________Have you participated in any other psychological studies before? ____Yes ____No

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How stressed are you right now- Not at all stressed= 1 2 3 4= Very stressed

How alert do you feel right now- Not at all alert= 1 2 3 4= Very alertHow hungry do you feel right now- Not at all hungry= 1 2 3 4= Very hungry

What do you think the study was about?

_____________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_____________

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False Memories: A Skelton Lurking in Memory’s Closet

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