Abstract
Summary: The repressed/false memory debate is marked by sharp polarities of what Loftus terms firm believers and skeptics who "point to the reconstructive nature of memory and ask for evidence and corroboration". The debate is far from theoretical since individual's reputations and futures are at stake. While the claims and arguments on both sides of the controversy will be discussed, the purpose here is to explore the nature of memory, repression and dissociation to determine if therapists can distinguish between true and false memories of childhood trauma.

Tags:false, memory, debate

Abstract
In this article, the writer offers a discussion of false memories within the context of ethical issues that include trauma and false memories, false memories and the law and repressed memories. The False Memory Syndrome and the notions of repression and disassociation are discussed.

From the Paper
"Relative to this topic issues of false memories trauma and false memories false memories and the law and ethical issues and repressed memories are discussed. False Memories Ethical issues surround the topic of false memories since these memories are used in litigation and treatment. Understanding what a false memory is requires an understanding of what repression and dissociation are. Merskey pointed out that Freud presented the notion ..."

Tags:false memories, abuse, victims, ethical, legal, disassociation

Abstract
This paper presents a research proposal for looking at whether or not a therapist can implant false memories in a patient. The paper evaluates the issue and suggests a methodology for studying this issue.

From the Paper
"Davis and Dalgleish state that false memory syndrome is one of the most controversial issues in the mental health field, noting that essentially it involves recollection of memories usually of sexual abuse that were either falsely programmed or which are legitimately recovered. Bjorklund spells the notion of false memory syndrome out in more detail conceptualizing it as a condition in which an individual's identity and interpersonal relationships center around a..."

Tags:false memory syndrome, Loftus, therapy, methodology

Abstract
In this article, the writer explains that for therapists, true memories can provide clues as to why patients are suffering from a variety of psychological problems. The writer notes that helping clients gain a clearer understanding requires greater and more detailed insight into the patient's past. Further, the writer points out that most clinical psychologists believe that children can learn to block memories as a survival mechanism and repression, which may cease to be helpful in adult life. Away from the traumatic environment, adults may find their memories resurfacing, either gradually in fragments, or suddenly in vivid flashbacks. The writer maintains that the issue of repressed memory remains controversial, even with the American Psychological Association itself. The writer then concludes that the real truth may be that not all cases are false and not all cases are true, but when dealing with the complex and suggestible process of memory and recall, it can be difficult to discern truth from fiction.

From the Paper
"The debate over so-called recovered memory syndrome leaves therapists in a bind. Even the name of the syndrome is controversial. Advocates who say the memories are real call the memories repressed, those who say the memories are false call the memories planted. In 1996, Susan Clancy, then a psychology fellow at Harvard, tried to find a way to see if some people were more prone to re-create memories than other people. She tested women who said they had repressed and then recovered memories of sexual abuse, and control groups who said they were either never sexually abused or had never forgotten their abuse. All were asked to study, memorize and then recite back a list of related words, like candy, sugar, cookie and brownie, that were related to the word sweet--but never the word sweet itself. Everybody had a tendency to falsely remember that the word sweet was one of the words that had been listed, but the women who claimed to have recovered memories of sexual abuse were significantly more likely than the control groups to be very, very confident that the critical word sweet was falsely on that list."

Tags:therapists, abuse, patients, memory, syndrome

Abstract
This paper discusses how children's suggestibility has been a focus of research since the turn of the twentieth century and how there have been many studies that examine the influence of a single misleading suggestion on children's recall of an event. It looks at how, as more and more children are called to court to provide uncorroborated testimony, especially in cases involving child sexual abuse, social psychology has turned its attention from studying the effects of a single misleading question on children's recall of neutral, nonscripted, and often uninteresting events, to examining the accuracy of children's testimony under a range of conditions that are characteristic of those that bring children to court. The paper also looks at the social science literature which shows that reinforcing children for behaviors regardless of the quality of the behaviors also increases the frequency of these types of behaviors.

From the Paper
"A number of studies have shown that asking children the same question repeatedly within an interview and across interviews, especially a yes/no question often results in the child changing her original answer (Howe, 2006). Preschoolers are particularly vulnerable to these effects. Children often do this because they seem to reason, "The first answer I gave must be wrong, that is why they are asking me the question again. Therefore I should change my answer" (Ceci, Loftus, Leichtman & Bruck, 1994). At other times, children may change their answer to please the adult who is questioning them; they reason that the "adult must not have liked the first answer I gave so I will give another answer." At other times, children's answers may change because the interviewer's previous suggestions become incorporated into their memories (Cederborg, 2004). "

Tags:recall, testimony

Abstract
This paper explains that children in the pre-operational stage of development (ages 2-6) are limited in their ability to think and perceive because they are both egocentric and intuitive, seeing the world only in black and white, and because they believe that all things, both animate and inanimate, have the ability to think and fee. (animism). The author points out that the development of memory in children makes them susceptible to social influences and the recollection of false memories; therefore, children are particularly affected by suggestibility and interviewer bias. The paper suggests future investigation of childhood memory assessment as it relates to education and to children being interviewed in familiar surroundings. The paper includes several long quotations.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Social Influences on Memory in Children
Future Research
Conclusion

From the Paper
"As it relates to interviewer bias, the article asserts the interviewer bias occurs when an interviewer has a priori of beliefs concerning and event and because of these beliefs fashion the interview to exploit disclosures from the interviewee that are consistent with the interviewer's aforementioned beliefs. The article contends that one characteristic of interviewer bias is the attempt to collect only confirmatory evidence and to evade all questions that may generate disconfirmatory evidence."

Tags:transductive, animism, egocentric, false, suggestibility

Abstract
This paper analyzes the so-called "Repressed Memory Syndrome." The author discusses how the issue is controversial in that as the so-called victims are winning large settlements in courts, the number of therapists and cases is rising dramatically. While most psychiatrists admit that repressing traumatic memories does indeed happen, many do not believe in the existence of Repressed Memory Syndrome. The paper makes this case by discussing a slew of psychiatric evidence, all of which suggests that memory is not absolute, memories can certainly be created and that the tools therapists use to revive memories can actually help create them. The most damning evidence against RMS has been findings which suggest that the social and legal goals of the rememberer can influence memory. The author closes by arguing that more research needs to be done into how memories are created and how they can be distinguished from false ones, so that actual victims of child abuse need not be trivializes.

Abstract
This paper examines research about coerced-internalized false confessions, which occur when innocent suspects actually believe that he or she is guilty of the crime; many of which are the result of police interrogation in which deceptive and deceitful practices may be used and accepted by the judicial system. The author points out that the article "The Social Psychology of False Confessions" tested the hypothesis that the presentation of false evidence can lead individuals who are vulnerable to confess to an act, which they did not commit, and, more important, to internalize the confession and perhaps confabulate details in memory consistent with that new belief. The paper relates that the researchers used an experimental method, which the paper describes, and concludes that this experiment was well-executed and well-reported.

From the Paper
"There were two independent variables in this experiment. First, the subject's level of vulnerability was manipulated by varying the pace of the task. Therefore, the confederate read at either a fast or slow pace. Second, the experimenters varied the use of false incrimination evidence. The confederates either "witnessed" or acknowledged the mistake or some confederates did not "witness", or see the subject touch the ALT key. The dependent variable was the confessions. Three forms of social influence were evaluated: compliance, internalization, and confabulation. To assess compliance, the experimenter handwrote a confession and asked the subject to sign it. "

Tags:coerced-internalized, variables, methodology, vulnerability, witness

Abstract
This paper examines the mental faculty of recovered memory and the neurological mechanisms involved in retaining and recalling past experiences. It takes a particular look at the controversy among psychologists regarding repressed memory and whether or not it actually exists. The paper asserts that much scientific research supports the validity of repressed memory. The paper also points out, however, that this research does not address whether repressed memories are true or false, such as in the case of testimonies when dealing with abuses or crimes. The paper concludes that such accounts should indeed be taken very seriously and should be critically examined in relation to other evidence.

From the Paper
"False memories are memories that were distorted or even created within and outside of the therapeutic context. Patients with psychological distress see a therapist as a source of help in their search for an "effort at meaning" (Clansy, cited in Furtado, 2003). Patients' memory is extremely susceptible that the subtlest suggestion made by a doctor can alter or create false experiences such as memories of abuse. They can be created by the use of several techniques, such as recovered memory therapy, hypnosis, guided imagery, and dream interpretation (Davis, Loftus, & Follette, 2001). An experiment carried out by Dr. Nader and Dr. Shafe may give a neurobiological insight into how memories are updated. Using the fear conditioning process, they trained rats to associate a tone with an electric shock. Once the memory was consolidated, they presented the tone and immediately injected a drug that would inhibit the production of proteins. The fact that the animals reacted instead of freezing at the sound implied that the memories became vulnerable to suggestions, and that the production of new proteins were needed to store them back into long-term storage (Blakeslee, 2000)."

Tags:recall, neurology, brain

Abstract
The repressed memory controversy has spawned numerous debates in a variety of fields, from clinical psychology to legal studies, from the utility of repressed memory testimony in the courtroom to the nature of memory storage and recall. This paper reviews the research literature around the concept of repressed memories and proposes that, despite its emerging salience as a factor, one area not elaborately researched is the role of gender in repressed memories. The paper proposes an experiment designed to test whether gender may affect the creation of false memories in undergraduates and postulates an outcome based on the hypothesis that the social acceptability of a suggested memory increases how readily participants assimilate new memories (and this can be correlated with gender socialization). The experiment's goal is to work toward understanding the role of gender in the occurrence of repressed memories.

From the Paper
"Given the predominance of repressed memory in females, the problem begs the question: does gender affect cognition? The full answer to that question is complex beyond the scope of this paper, but the general summary is that the evidence is inconclusive. From the popular view, it is generally believed that females are better at certain tasks such as facial recognition, color recollection, emotional recognition, and verbal memory; while males are better at tasks such as visuospatial reasoning, chronology, and number memory. At the same time, despite these persistent stereotypes, the evidence to support them is not conclusive (c.f. Caplan, 1997; Halpern 1986). We can say that there is some evidence indicating females may be more suggestible than males (McFarlane, 2002), which might account in part for of the difference in repressed memory, given that a predominance of clients are in therapy (under the influence of a therapist) at the time of the recovery (Freyd, 1999)."

Tags:Sigmund, Freud, female, sexual, abuse, molestation, Oedipal, complex, False, Memory, Syndrome, literature, review, methodological, study