Connections

Memory in Everyday Life

Where would we be if we couldn't rely on our memory? Memory undeniably affects our performance in school, in the workplace, and in social situations.

Memory also plays a key role in our legal system. Personal recollections and eyewitness testimony are routinely used as evidence in criminal and civil law proceedings. The studies on which this module was based, as well as studies by Elizabeth Loftus and other memory researchers, suggest that memory distortions occur, and even that people sometimes recall events that didn't happen. This helps us understand how two honest witnesses can have widely differing recollections of the same event.

Controversial Memories

One of the most controversial topics in psychology today is the debate about repressed memories (memories that have been banished into the unconscious). Sigmund Freud proposed that thoughts, feelings, and memories could be repressed as a defense mechanism against the anxiety they produced. Many psychotherapists still hold this view; most memory researchers do not agree. Indeed, recently a number of adult clients in therapy have claimed to have recovered repressed memories of childhood physical and sexual abuse, including satanic ritual sacrifices. Because we know that child abuse is a genuine and widespread problem, we can't afford to ignore these claims.

Yet memory research suggests that it is equally dangerous to simply accept these recovered memories as fact, because we now know that false memories can be created by associations triggered by other events. We also know that the act of recalling a false memory (whether in a psychology experiment or in a therapy session) will strengthen the person's confidence that the memory is genuine. After telling the story to several other people (thus providing additional opportunities for false recall), the person may be absolutely convinced that the imaginary event actually occurred.

Memory and Exam Performance

How does this new information about memory relate to your academic performance? Can you learn anything from this research that would change your study habits?

When you review course material for an exam, it's usually impossible to go back over all the readings and exercises in detail. So you make choices about what to study on the basis of whether or not you think you already know the material. Here's where the research on false memories can help you.

You now know that strong false memories can be triggered by association with other events. For example, if you have spent a lot of time studying the concepts of "positive reinforcement" and "schedules of reinforcement," you may falsely recognize the term "negative reinforcement" as something you have already studied. In fact, you may be highly confident that you have read the term and memorized its definition. But research suggests that you should not rely on your memory of what you have studied and what you haven't. Instead, check your memory for each term by giving yourself a quiz. In the end, that is the only way you will know "what you know."