In life, we always assume that our mind remembers things accurately, that our brain is reliable and will never let us down. What if this statement was completely false? Even though our brain should be able to sort the real memories from the false ones, many times we can be tricked into remembering something that we never experienced. This is called false memory. False memory is when a person is implanted with a recollection of an event that they then are confident actually happened to them. These can include remembering a word that wasn’t mentioned, remembering an event from childhood that never occurred, or even remembering traumatic experiences that would haunt someone for the rest of their life. This type of altering of the mind hasn’t
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The power to change a person’s memory, decision making, or behavior can break many different rules that have been set to protect the wellbeing of people all around the world. False memory can be abused to produce horrible memories in unsuspecting subjects. There have been many cases in which patients, seeking therapy for problems such as depression or stress, have had horrific false memories implanted in them that continued to cause them distress. In one case, a nurse’s aide went to therapy to seek help with a traumatic event she experienced. While in therapy, the psychiatrist used various suggestive techniques to implant the false memory of her being in a cult, eating babies, being forced to watch the murder of her friend, along with other awful experiences. Once the woman was implanted with the memories, she was absolutely sure that all of these things occurred. When she discovered that the psychiatrist forced her to “remember” these events, she sued. This woman was mentally injured by this traumatic experience, and all because of malpractice by the psychiatrist. Because the psychiatrist decided to play with the mind of an innocent patient, she was forever changed.(Loftus, 1997) No one should have this kind of power to easily create experiences that will mentally abuse anyone. Also, it was already stated that false memories can influence behavior. (Loftus, 2003) Is it morally correct to influence a person to, for example, vote for a different political candidate? If the techniques for false memory were more developed, behavior could be influenced more often, taking away certain choices from the average citizen. Although the techniques for false memory could not be used widespread at the moment, they could still have a huge impact on singular human
The power to change a person’s memory, decision making, or behavior can break many different rules that have been set to protect the wellbeing of people all around the world. False memory can be abused to produce horrible memories in unsuspecting subjects. There have been many cases in which patients, seeking therapy for problems such as depression or stress, have had horrific false memories implanted in them that continued to cause them distress. In one case, a nurse’s aide went to therapy to seek help with a traumatic event she experienced. While in therapy, the psychiatrist used various suggestive techniques to implant the false memory of her being in a cult, eating babies, being forced to watch the murder of her friend, along with other awful experiences. Once the woman was implanted with the memories, she was absolutely sure that all of these things occurred. When she discovered that the psychiatrist forced her to “remember” these events, she sued. This woman was mentally injured by this traumatic experience, and all because of malpractice by the psychiatrist. Because the psychiatrist decided to play with the mind of an innocent patient, she was forever changed.(Loftus, 1997) No one should have this kind of power to easily create experiences that will mentally abuse anyone. Also, it was already stated that false memories can influence behavior. (Loftus, 2003) Is it morally correct to influence a person to, for example, vote for a different political candidate? If the techniques for false memory were more developed, behavior could be influenced more often, taking away certain choices from the average citizen. Although the techniques for false memory could not be used widespread at the moment, they could still have a huge impact on singular human