The Science of False Memory

Everyone remembers events differently. Sometimes, people may even remember something that did not even occur. This is called false memory, and can occur quite often. A great example of false memory is President George W. Bush’s accounts of the moment he heard the news of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Instead of being consistent, he told different stories when he was asked about the moment he learned of the attack. Understanding false memory is important because when it occurs to high profile people, such as the President of the United States, his speeches and recounts of September 11 can sway how we perceive the event. In 2014, The New York Times published an article written by Dr. Christopher F. Chabris and Daniel J Simons. In this article, Chabris and Simons emphasize the power and controversy that lie within false memories.

Multiple times, President Bush was asked about the moment he learned about the airplanes crashing into the Twin Towers. Daniel Greenberg lists three different responses from Bush that occurred about two weeks apart (Greenberg, 2004). On December 4, 2001, and January 5, 2002, President Bush remembers watching the first plane crashing into the first building. However, on December 20, 2001, President Bush told a story that differed from the others. On this day, the President recalls his senior advisor delivering the news that “it appeared to be an accident involving a small, twin- engine plane” (Greenberg, 2004). Because the president is always under scrutiny, many people realized the differences in his answers which led to many theories on why President Bush could have possibly told different stories. These explanations ranged from conspiracy theories to President Bush falling victim to false memories.

Our memory is often flawed, which can sometimes result in made up or distorted recollection of events. False memories can be caused by several factors. One way is through suggestion. There have been several cases in which mental health care practitioners such as therapists and psychiatrists have planted false memories into patients (Loftus, 1997). Another way that false memories are created is through the merging of multiple memories and prior knowledge. Both methods of creating false memories could have influenced President Bush’s recollection of the events that took place on September 11, 2001. Research by Sir Frederic Charles Bartlett furthers false memories and shows that the more a story is told, it can become more distorted, much like a game of telephone (Chabris & Simons, 2014). Each time a story is told, a detail of the story can change, sometimes disappearing altogether, or it can appear and be fabricated by our brain.

In addition to the amount of times a story is told, the length of time between the event and the account of the event may have a significant impact on the accuracy of the memory of the witnesses. The more that time passes, the less accurate each story will be. Following the attacks on September 11, Jennifer Talarico and David Rubin, researchers for Duke University, questioned students on their whereabouts when the attack took place. They noticed that every time the students were questioned weeks after the event, inconsistencies in their stories increased (Pappas, 2011).

False memory is important to understand because it encourages people to dig deeper into investigating events such as 9/11. According to Christopher Chabris and Daniel J. Simons, “The science of memory distortion has become rigorous and reliable enough to help guide public policy.” It is important to consider memory distortion to guide our beliefs and actions. When considering memory distortion, we reflect on what we know and can fact check ourselves before making statements that could possibly be wrong. In the article, the authors point out that our mental fallacies do not say anything about a person’s morals, but our reactions in response to our own mental fallacies can gauge our character (Chabris, Simons, 2014). For example, instead of addressing his mistake of telling the wrong story when asked about the moment he learned of the attack in Manhattan, President Bush neglected to address his mistake.

Flashbulb memories usually involve vivid mental images and are emotionally charged. Witnesses are more likely to remember these events and have strong confidence in their recollection of the event. However, they are also vulnerable to false memories. Because these images are so vivid and strong, it is easier for our brains to retrieve these memories, therefore it is easy to mistakenly believe that a flashbulb memory occurred when recalling any event (Greensberg, 2004). President Bush’s faulty recollection of the moment he was informed of the plane crashes could be blamed on the constant airing of the airplane collisions on television.

The role of false memories in understanding September 11 can be just as damaging as it is in some criminal cases. The different recollections as told by President Bush could have possibly led to developments of conspiracy theories like “George W. Bush caused 9/11,” by piecing together many of the former President’s mental fallacies, and a few bits of information that would seem odd to skeptics. Whether these theories are true, his inability to tell a consistent story and his neglect to address his mistake made him a questionable character among users of unregulated media which can range from unfiltered forums or even social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. However, False memories in the spotlight spark curiosity among citizens to explore the truth about their whereabouts at the time of the attacks, and to explore the details of the attacks on September 11.

References

Ben-Artzi, E., & Raveh, M. (2016, October). Perfectionism and false memories: A signal detection analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 101, 132–136. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.062

Chabris, C. F., & Simons, D. J. (2014). Why Our Memory Fails Us. Retrieved October 30, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/opinion/why-our-memory-fails-us.html

Cherry, K. (2016, March 19). How Your Brain Can Create False Memories. Retrieved October 30, 2016, from https://www.verywell.com/what-is-a-false-memory-2795193

Greenberg, D. L. (2004). President Bush’s false[flashbulb] memory of 9/11/01. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18(3), 363–370. doi:10.1002/acp.1016

Loftus, E. F. (1997). Creating False Memories. Scientific American, 277(3), 70–75. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0997–70

Pappas, S. (2011, September 6). Do You Really Remember Where You Were on 9/11? Retrieved October 30, 2016, from http://www.livescience.com/15914-flashbulb-memory-september-11.html