False-Narrative Procedure Of Memory Study

Psychologists are interested in studying memory illusions and distortions in order to discover how the memory works (Bartlett, 1932; Schacter, 2001). An interest in false memories arose in the 1900s, and led to people trying to discover if suggested influences can lead to remembering pseudo-events. A procedure was introduced where adults were given a description of a childhood event, and asked to remember them (Loftus and Pickrell, 1995). All of the events described would be true except for one. Eight studies used the familial-informant false-narrative procedure where narratives were read to test subjects and they were asked to remember them. All the narratives were true except one (Hyman & Billings, 1998; Hyman, Husband, & Billings, 1995; Hyman & Pentland, 1996; Loftus& Pickrell, 1995; Pezdek, Finger, & Hodge, 1997; Porter, Yuille, & Lehman, 1999). …show more content…
Again all the photos were real except one which was digitally altered. People see photographs as more compelling evidence that something actually happened making it very useful in studying the false memory phenomena. One limitation when using this procedure is ecological validity and generalizability. Photoshopped pictures aren’t a likely occurrence in everyday life, but people often go through old photo albums. Psychologist recommend adults to review family photo albums when they believe that they have been abused (Dolan,1991; Poole, Lindsay, Memon, & Bull, 1995). The current study is using similar procedures discussed above such as a narratives and photos to produce their own