Did I turn off the stove, or did I just imagine it? Memory isn’t always reliable. Psychological scientists have discovered all sorts of ways that false memories get created, and now there’s another one for the list: watching someone else do an actio…
During a recent study of memory recall and the use of suggestive interviewing, a cognitive psychologist successfully planted false memories in volunteers of several study groups — memories that included such unlikely events as kissing frogs, shaking hands with Bugs Bunny at Disneyland, and witnessing a demonic possession. Her success at planting these memories challenge the argument that suggestive interviewing may reliably prompt real memories instead of planting false ones.