Study
Finds How False Memories Are Formed
Researchers literally
have peered into the human brain to offer new evidence on the
existence of false memories and how they are formed, according
to a new study in the journal Psychological Science.
False memories are
the controversial subject of arguments about the validity of
repressed memories that can surface years after a traumatic
event and about the credibility of eyewitness accounts in criminal
trials.
Because memories are
imperfect under ordinary circumstances - forming, storing, and
retrieving them, with great variations in factors influencing
those processes - it is unlikely that a one-answer-fits-all
will settle those controversies soon.
Imagined
Event Vs. Experienced Event
The new study used
MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) technology during the presentation
of words and photos to pinpoint how people form a memory for
something that did not actually happen.
"Our challenge was
to bring people into the laboratory and set up a circumstance
in which they would remember something that did not happen,"
says Dr. Kenneth A. Paller, professor of psychology at Northwestern
University and co-investigator of the study.
"We measured brain
activity in people who looked at pictures of objects or imagined
other objects that we asked them to visualize," Dr. Paller says. "Later
we asked them to discriminate what they actually saw from what
they imagined."
Building on research regarding
what happens in the brain when people remember versus forget,
the researchers were interested in what happens differently
in the brain when false memories are produced.
"We learned that the
particular parts of the brain critical for generating visual
images are highly activated when people imagine images such
as those we presented to our study participants," explains
Dr. Paller.
Many of the visual
images that the subjects were asked to imagine were later misremembered
as actually having been seen.
"We think parts of
the brain used to actually perceive an object and to imagine
an object overlap," says Dr. Paller. "Thus, a vividly imagined
event can leave a memory trace in the brain that's very similar
to that of an experienced event.
"When memories are
stored for perceived or imagined objects, some of the same brain
areas are involved," he notes.
Take a real life example
in which a police interrogator asks if a person saw a particular
person at a crime scene. That induces putting that person in a
person's imagination and possibly corrupts later questioning.
"Just the fact of
looking back into your memory and thinking about whether an
event happened is tantamount to imagining that event happening,"
Dr. Paller says. "If I ask you if something happened, you imagine
it happening. Later on - a day or a year later - if I ask about
that event, you have the tough judgment of deciding what happened
and what was imagined."
It is important to
know that memory is fallible, Dr. Paller says.
"We know that we forget
quite a bit, but we're not always in touch with the idea that
our memories can sometimes can be misleading," he explains.
Brain
Activity Reflects False Memory Creation
During the study,
participants generated a visual image of a common object in
response to each word, Dr. Paller says.
"They sometimes claimed
to have seen photos of specific objects they had imagined but
not actually seen," Dr. Paller writes in his report. The study
findings indicate "that brain activity reflecting the engagement
of visual imagery can lead to falsely remembering something
that was only imagined.
"The remarkable finding
is that brain activity during the study phase could predict
which objects would subsequently be falsely remembered as having
been seen in a photograph," Dr. Paller concludes.
Always consult your
physician for more information. |
December 2004
Study
Finds How False Memories Are Formed
Imagined
Event Vs. Experienced Event
Brain
Activity Reflects False Memory Creation
Laughter
During Therapy Improves Communication
Online
Resources
Laughter During
Therapy Improves Communication
Mental health therapists
and their patients can develop a stronger relationship by sharing
a laugh, says a new study in the Journal of Nervous
and Mental Disease.
Many therapists try
not to show emotion, since it could influence patients and may
be seen as judgmental, but this study found that showing emotion
may have a positive effect, especially if it happens mutually.
The current study
found that laughter is used to communicate an emotion, "much
like an exclamation point at the end of a sentence," says lead
researcher Dr. Carl Marci, the director of social neuroscience
at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Moreover, patients
and therapists laughing together increases the intensity of
the emotion and may help build feelings of rapport between them,
Dr. Marci says.
Dr. Marci's team has
been studying many aspects of psychophysiology and empathy.
In the current study,
the group videotaped therapy sessions and took physiologic measurements
of both therapists and patients. The patients were being treated
for common mood and anxiety disorders.
The therapists used
what is called psychodynamic therapy, which uses the relationship
between patient and therapist to help patients develop insight
into their emotions.
The physiologic responses
of patients and therapists were measured using skin conductance
recordings. This method is commonly used to measure the activity
of the sympathetic nervous system, which controls physiologic
arousal and rates of blood pressure and the heart.
In 10 recorded sessions,
the research team identified 145 episodes of laughter. They
found that patients laughed more than twice as often as therapists.
And patients were more likely to laugh at their own comments.
In addition, therapists were more likely to laugh in response
to what patients said.
The actual meaning
of laughter needs to be placed in the context of what was being
said before and after it occurred, Dr. Marci explains. "It could
be anything from happiness to anxiety and nervousness."
According to Dr. Marci,
"This combination of psychology and biology can help us understand
how we interrelate."
Always consult your
physician for more information.
Online
Resources
(Our Organization
is not responsible for the content of Internet sites.)
American
Psychoanalytic Association
American
Psychological Association
Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
National
Institute of Mental Health
National
Institutes of Health (NIH)
National
Library of Medicine
US
Department of Health and Human Services |
