I chose this TED talk about false memories because I was interested in finding out more about them. False memories happen when people remember things that didn’t happen or remember things differently from the way they actually happened. The PowerPoint we watched talked all about the process of memory, and only touched on false memories just a bit, so I thought it would be interesting to show how easily our memories can be altered. Elizabeth Loftus, the speaker, talks about memory as a Wikipedia page- we can change it, but so can others. She goes on to talk about studies done in which leading questions altered subjects’ memories about what actually happened, and discussed how false memories are often created in therapy by the use of leading questions and other methods. She also talked about several studies in which false memories were planted in a good number of subjects. This makes me think about my memories; for instance, I have a memory in which I saw a ghost as a child and played with her (it’s a long story) but I don’t know if it is actually my own memory or if I have just heard it told so many times it has been implanted in my mind.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Activity 5.3 Video on Memory
I chose this TED talk about false memories because I was interested in finding out more about them. False memories happen when people remember things that didn’t happen or remember things differently from the way they actually happened. The PowerPoint we watched talked all about the process of memory, and only touched on false memories just a bit, so I thought it would be interesting to show how easily our memories can be altered. Elizabeth Loftus, the speaker, talks about memory as a Wikipedia page- we can change it, but so can others. She goes on to talk about studies done in which leading questions altered subjects’ memories about what actually happened, and discussed how false memories are often created in therapy by the use of leading questions and other methods. She also talked about several studies in which false memories were planted in a good number of subjects. This makes me think about my memories; for instance, I have a memory in which I saw a ghost as a child and played with her (it’s a long story) but I don’t know if it is actually my own memory or if I have just heard it told so many times it has been implanted in my mind.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I, Ashley Taylor, am watching this video and will comment on it
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see your power point slide showing the relationship between false dreams and the dual-memory theory components. What stimulates (triggers) them and what sensory register is involved? What is the interaction between short and long term memories? What tool retrieves thgem? I'm full of questions. Don't try to answer all of thgem!
ReplyDeleteHi Chelsea,
ReplyDeleteThis was a great video to share! I really enjoyed watching it, and I can connect it to both the PowerPoint that we watched for this module, and also to Piaget’s developmental stages. For example, I believe that as we develop and mature, we can certainly change the way(s) in which we remember certain things. When we are younger, we might focus on the environment and the concrete aspects (what we could see, hear, and/or touch). However, when we are older, we may recall the look on our parents’ or friends’ faces or infer how those people around us were feeling about the events that occurred. Piaget would say that we could think of things in a more abstract way.
I am not exactly sure about your background (school psych?), but I do know that you work with kids in the school environment. My question to you after viewing this would be, do you think that asking students leading questions could be done in a positive manner (in order to affect or control detrimental behaviors in the future)? Would you feel morally wrong about altering the way a child recalls information and/or events?
I agree with you, Ashley, about changing how we remember things. Mu background is school psych, and from the video, I think asking leading questions positively could be done, however I think they should only be asked by someone who is trained and feels fully competent in doing so, just to make sure they are being asked correctly. As for your second question, that is a good question! I think it depends on the situation, however again I would never do it if I did not feel fully competent in doing so.
ReplyDelete