Trauma-Related Amnesia:
A Window of Uncertainty in the Serial Podcast
The malleability of memory is an enigma. While it can be unpredictable at times, we can manipulate our brains to extract memories. In court cases, however, extracting memories becomes problematic and challenging. In the podcast Serial, that was based on a murder that happened several years ago, inconsistencies hinder the strive for truth. While Jay claims that Adnan killed a girl called Hae, problems with memory cause discrepancies in the detectives’ findings. Within this, how does the study of memory and trauma-related amnesia affect the analysis of Adnan’s case in Serial? Also, can different problems in memory be used to justify Jay’s varying testimonies as a key source, …show more content…
When Charles says, “People lose it sometimes… [and] can go into what’s called a dissociate state where they’re really psychological not where they are physically… [About] half the people have some degree of amnesia,” the possibility of Adnan killing Hae re-emerges. Trauma-related amnesia is a state of memory loss that occurs immediately after a traumatic brain injury. In certain types of amnesia, the memory is never regained. However, researchers found that, “part of the enhancement of memory was related to a ‘rehearsal effect,’ in which people tended to talk in later days about what they were doing that day, which led to a strengthening of memory. These rehearsal effects can actually lead to distortions in memory… and the memory of rehearsing the event becomes stronger than the reality (Bremner 101). If Adnan did kill Hae and had amnesia, Adnan could have had a rehearsal effect of his normal routine on that particular day, making it even stronger than the reality. The repetition of “I probably did…” enforces the idea of the rehearsal effect, making it more believable that Adnan had a trauma-related …show more content…
When considering Adnan, it is important to consider aspects of trauma-related amnesia such as the rehearsal effect, over-writing, and flashbulb memories. Also, which repression and denial are some mechanisms of defence that Adnan could have used to prove his innocence, detectives may need to study body language and tone to deem if Adnan is truly innocent or not. Jay’s inconsistencies, on the other hand, seem to be less affected my trauma-related amnesia. While his details of the murder may come from hypermnesia, the ambiguity in certain areas of his alibi could come from the manipulation of memories during memory consolidation. Perhaps Jay’s story was formulated to frame Adnan. It is very difficult to deem what exactly happened the day Hae was killed, but moving forward, one could analyse the methods and likelihood of memory recall. It is particularly interesting that hypnosis can easily help someone recover his or her memory. However, it is a paradigm of the impact of interpersonal influence so the question of the ethics of hypnosis remains. To quote Adnan in the first episode regarding memory, “I just sometimes wish they could look into my brain and see.” Nevertheless, is hypnosis justified in legal cases? If it were, no one would ever be wrongfully charged- that is, of course, in an ideal and non-existent
A Window of Uncertainty in the Serial Podcast
The malleability of memory is an enigma. While it can be unpredictable at times, we can manipulate our brains to extract memories. In court cases, however, extracting memories becomes problematic and challenging. In the podcast Serial, that was based on a murder that happened several years ago, inconsistencies hinder the strive for truth. While Jay claims that Adnan killed a girl called Hae, problems with memory cause discrepancies in the detectives’ findings. Within this, how does the study of memory and trauma-related amnesia affect the analysis of Adnan’s case in Serial? Also, can different problems in memory be used to justify Jay’s varying testimonies as a key source, …show more content…
When Charles says, “People lose it sometimes… [and] can go into what’s called a dissociate state where they’re really psychological not where they are physically… [About] half the people have some degree of amnesia,” the possibility of Adnan killing Hae re-emerges. Trauma-related amnesia is a state of memory loss that occurs immediately after a traumatic brain injury. In certain types of amnesia, the memory is never regained. However, researchers found that, “part of the enhancement of memory was related to a ‘rehearsal effect,’ in which people tended to talk in later days about what they were doing that day, which led to a strengthening of memory. These rehearsal effects can actually lead to distortions in memory… and the memory of rehearsing the event becomes stronger than the reality (Bremner 101). If Adnan did kill Hae and had amnesia, Adnan could have had a rehearsal effect of his normal routine on that particular day, making it even stronger than the reality. The repetition of “I probably did…” enforces the idea of the rehearsal effect, making it more believable that Adnan had a trauma-related …show more content…
When considering Adnan, it is important to consider aspects of trauma-related amnesia such as the rehearsal effect, over-writing, and flashbulb memories. Also, which repression and denial are some mechanisms of defence that Adnan could have used to prove his innocence, detectives may need to study body language and tone to deem if Adnan is truly innocent or not. Jay’s inconsistencies, on the other hand, seem to be less affected my trauma-related amnesia. While his details of the murder may come from hypermnesia, the ambiguity in certain areas of his alibi could come from the manipulation of memories during memory consolidation. Perhaps Jay’s story was formulated to frame Adnan. It is very difficult to deem what exactly happened the day Hae was killed, but moving forward, one could analyse the methods and likelihood of memory recall. It is particularly interesting that hypnosis can easily help someone recover his or her memory. However, it is a paradigm of the impact of interpersonal influence so the question of the ethics of hypnosis remains. To quote Adnan in the first episode regarding memory, “I just sometimes wish they could look into my brain and see.” Nevertheless, is hypnosis justified in legal cases? If it were, no one would ever be wrongfully charged- that is, of course, in an ideal and non-existent