Memory researchers such as Loftus have shown that false memories can be implanted fairly easily in the laboratory. In The Myth of Repressed Memory, Loftus recounted assigning a term project to students in her cognitive psychology class. The project involved implanting a false memory in someone's mind. One of the students chose his fourteen year old brother as his test subject. The student wrote about four events his brother had supposedly experienced. Three of the experiences really happened, but the fourth one was a fake event of the boy getting lost at the mall at age five. For the next five days the younger brother was asked to read about his experiences (written by his older brother) and then write down details that he could remember about them. The younger brother "remembered" his shopping-mall experience quite well, describing details elaborately.
In "Make-Believe Memories" (American Psychologist, November 2003), Loftus noted that memories can be influenced by imagination. "Imagination not only can make people believe they have done simple things that they have not done but also can lead people to believe that they have experienced more complex events," wrote Loftus. She described a study in which participants were told to imagine performing a common task with certain objects, such as flipping a coin. The second meeting consisted of imagining doing a task without using any object. In a subsequent meeting, participants were tested on their memory of the first day's task performance. Some participants "remembered" not only tasks they had not done but also unusual ones they had not performed.
Being Lost in a Mall Is Not the Same as Being Abused in Childhood
Heidi Sivers, Jonathan Schooler, and Jennifer J. Freyd noted that one should be as cautious in interpreting findings that support recovered memories as in interpreting those that support false memories ("Recovered Memories," Encyclopedia of the Human Brain, San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 2002). According to the authors, questions have been raised about generalizing experiences of "benign" false memories, such as remembering being lost in a mall, to recalling being abused by one's parents. False memory studies are limited by the fact that researchers cannot experiment with implanting sexual abuse memories due to obvious ethical considerations and possible repercussions.
The authors added that in false memory research, such as Loftus's "lost in a mall" study, one cannot be certain that the allegedly false event did not actually happen to the subject. Although the subject's relative who was recruited to help plant the false memory was sure the subject had never had such an experience, the findings could have been interpreted as cases in which the relatives were the ones who had forgotten the incident.
IMPLANTING A FALSE MEMORY TO PROVE A CASE: THE PAUL INGRAM CASE. In an unusual situation, Richard Ofshe, social psychologist, expert on cults, and a member of the FMSF Scientific and Professional Advisory Board, implanted a false memory of abuse in the mind of Paul Ingram who was accused of sexually abusing his two daughters. In 1988 after returning home from a religious retreat, Ingram's two daughters accused him and several men in the community of extensive sexual and satanic abuse. After months of interrogations and pressure from a psychologist and police detectives, Ingram began to confess to all kinds of horrific behavior. As his children brought up new charges, he would search his memory until he finally "remembered" and could even supply details of the events. The daughters' accusations included the murder of infants, abortions, and satanic orgies, even involving their mother.
Dr. Ofshe, who had been hired by the prosecution, did not believe Ingram's memories were genuine. Dr. Ofshe told Ingram he had spoken to one of Ingram's sons and one of his daughters, and they related the time Ingram forced them to have sex in front of him. This was one of the few charges that had not been brought against Ingram, and never was, but within a day Ingram submitted a written confession with details of the memory of the event. When Dr. Ofshe informed Ingram he was mistaken, Ingram protested, saying that the event was as real as anything else.
Although he was not sure about his memories, Ingram, a very religious man, was convinced that his daughters would never lie and that he had a dark side he had not known. His pastor, who was counseling the daughters, told Ingram that the abuse had indeed happened. The pastor exorcised him and admonished him to pray to God to bring back memories of his evil acts. Later on Ingram claimed remembering the abuse. Before Dr. Ofshe could submit his report to the prosecution, Ingram pleaded guilty to the charges of rape.
Richard Ofshe reported to the prosecution, "My analysis of this interrogation is that it is quite likely that most of what Mr. Ingram reports as recollections of events are products of social influence rather than reports based on his memory of events." Ingram later realized his false recollections and withdrew his guilty plea. The Washington State Supreme Court rejected his appeal. Ingram received a twenty-year prison sentence. In 1996 Ingram, having exhausted all of his appeals, applied for pardon from then governor Mike Lowry through the Washington pardons board. Memory experts Elizabeth Loftus and Richard Ofshe, as well as the county prosecutor, sheriff, and Ingram's son, testified on his behalf. The board denied Ingram's request for pardon. On April 8, 2003, Paul Ingram was released from prison after serving fourteen years of his sentence. He was required to register as a sex offender.
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