False memory syndrome: types and causes of this phenomenon

False memory syndrome is characterized by the presence of false memories They can appear both spontaneously and induced. It is a syndrome because it refers to a set of elements that are characteristic of a certain situation, in this case, the evocation of facts whose existence is only recognized by the person who evokes them.

It is not a disease or disorder, since it has not been recognized as a clinical category by specialized international organizations. However, the false memory syndrome has emerged in an important way in research in the field scientific and legal, as a consequence of different controversies and controversies generated in said contexts. We will see below some details about the characteristics and history of false memory syndrome.

• Related article: Types of memory: how does the human brain store memories?"

False memory syndrome: what is it?

In the 19th century, the first public hypotheses about false memories They were made by Sigmund Freud, who proposed that a repressed foundational trauma occurring in childhood gave rise to the psychosomatic symptoms of the adult women she cared for.

Later, the same Sigmund Freud modifies his theory and speaks of these memories as a series of fantasies in which underlying the traumatic events, and offers an interpretation for this from his theory of development psychosexual.

Time later and with the development of different psychotherapeutic approaches, a large part of the clinical approaches were based on the belief that there was a repressed trauma and likely to be remembered. In other words, the intention was present to reveal the traumatic experiences of childhood through different techniques, ranging from hypnosis to classical individual therapy.

With the passage of time, all of the above began to be widely questioned, due to the possibility of creating an environment suggestive where the person ended up evoking memories of experiences that never happened, or evoking them in a distorted.

This occurred in part as a consequence of studies on the functioning of our memory. For example, cognitive science has told us that, far from being a kind of hard drive that stores and hides memories, our memory is rather a reconstructive and reproductive system. It is not infallible, it is built and modified over time and through our own narrations, interactions and experiences; with which, it is subject to errors and distortions.

False memories: types and characteristics

A false memory, or a false memory, is any memory report in which there is a partial or total difference with the facts of interest (Pinchansky, Víquez and Zeledón, 2004). In other words, these are memories that are remembered even though they have not actually occurred, or that have been significantly distorted.

They are images of the past that lack objective existence (their existence cannot be corroborated by the testimonials from third parties), but that a person can evoke assuring that they have occurred as they reports. For this reason, these are memories that can cause an important and significant emotional experience in the person who reports them. Its conformation does not necessarily depend on forgetting, although it may be closely linked to it.

There are two basic types of false memories, spontaneous memories and implanted memories.

1. spontaneous

They are generated as a result of the internal workings of memory, but such working can be inadvertently evoked by outside influence, for example through a request from someone outside to clearly report some fact.

2. implanted

They are the result of a person's exposure to false information, which is presented in a coherent and logical manner with the person's knowledge schemes. Originates from a third information element, which can be a comment made by someone, or for example through a leading question.

In this case, the third information element is presented with the intention of provoking or forcing the recognition of a false event. That is, implanted false memories, unlike spontaneous ones, are created voluntarily by someone who is not the person reporting them.

implanted false memories were especially studied by the American psychologist Elizabeth Loftus. The results of their investigations had an important impact on the legal procedures of the penal system.

• You may be interested in: "Elizabeth Loftus and memory studies: can false memories be created?"

Causes

Pinchanski, Víquez and Zeledón (2004) following Brainerd and Reyna (1995), tells us that the general mechanisms of conformation of false memories, as well as true memories, depend mainly on the following items:

• The type of information that is memorized (common sense or complex information).
• The way of memorization (oral, tactile, auditory, visual or combined).
• The moment of evaluation from memory (whether it is immediate or time after the event occurred).
• The procedure to evoke the memory (by recognition or by free memory).

In turn, these elements depend on both cognitive and sociocultural mechanisms, where the elaboration of memories is combined with the power relations that are established in a certain context. For example, in the criminal context, the instruction of a lawyer or the public prosecutor to remember a certain event, can be a triggering element to create a false memory spontaneous.

Likewise, the psychiatrist Janet Boakes (1999), who is one of the pioneers in studies on memory syndrome false (especially in relation to memories of childhood sexual abuse), suggests that this syndrome occurs in large extent as a consequence of the suggestion produced in the psychotherapeutic context.

According to Boakes, many of the people who report having recovered memories of a previous experience of sexual abuse, which cannot be corroborated by evidence external to the person himself, they do so within a therapeutic process, which the same author attributes to the influence of practices, beliefs and the influence of professional.