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Vukov JM. Rationally Navigating Subjective Preferences in Memory Modification. THE JOURNAL OF MEDICINE AND PHILOSOPHY 2022; 47:424-442. [PMID: 35640023 DOI: 10.1093/jmp/jhac006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Discussion of the ethics of memory modification technologies (MMTs) has often focused on questions about the limits of their permissibility. In the current paper, I focus primarily on a different issue: when (if ever) is it rational to prefer MMTs to alternative interventions? My conclusion is that these conditions are rare. The reason stems from considerations of autonomy. When compared with other interventions, MMTs do a particularly poor job at promoting the autonomy of their users. If this conclusion is true, moreover, it provides a fresh perspective on debates about the permissibility of MMTs. On the one hand, for those who would limit the use of MMTs to a narrow range of circumstances, the conclusion that MMTs are rarely preferable gives them further reason to eye MMTs with suspicion. On the other hand, for those who view MMTs as permissible in a wide range of circumstances, the conclusion may deflate their endorsement.
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Short D. The aim of clinical hypnosis-intelligence or compliance? AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL HYPNOSIS 2022; 64:283-289. [PMID: 35404219 DOI: 10.1080/00029157.2022.2039637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Dan Short
- Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine & Health Sciences
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Muschalla B, Schönborn F. Induction of false beliefs and false memories in laboratory studies-A systematic review. Clin Psychol Psychother 2021; 28:1194-1209. [PMID: 33586291 DOI: 10.1002/cpp.2567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2021] [Revised: 01/23/2021] [Accepted: 01/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Psychological interventions often use guided discovery and other techniques for diagnostic exploration and intervention planning. This way, memories may arise in the person, which may be true or false. False memories of earlier events can be harmful and result in real suffering, similar to actual traumatic memories. Based on cognitive psychological and psycho-traumatological findings, there is pronounced dissent in the academic disciplines regarding the conceptualization, relevance and research of false memories. This review contributes to the basic question of how often false beliefs and false memories may be induced within the frame of different interactional techniques. A systematic review has been conducted of 59 articles from (quasi-)experimental studies and two qualitative sources from 30 data bases. Three main methods of memory induction provide the basis for reporting: imagination inflation, false feedback, and memory implantation. Due to the conceptual and methodological diversity of the studies, the results appear to be heterogeneous. Free and guided imagery, as well as suggestive statements, could induce false beliefs or false memories in, on average, 20%-50% of the participants who underwent experimental manipulation concerning false past events. A false belief induction may occur after dream interpretation or hypnosis in more than 50% of participants. Personalized suggestion is more effective in inducing memory than the general plausibility of the suggested events. Further research questions are which therapeutic actions seem appropriate in cases of harmful false memories. This depends not only on whether there are veridical elements in the false memory but also on the quality and meaning of the memory for the person's life and ability to cope with burdens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beate Muschalla
- Institute of Psychology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Fabian Schönborn
- Institute of Psychology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
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Lynn SJ, Kirsch I, Terhune DB, Green JP. Myths and misconceptions about hypnosis and suggestion: Separating fact and fiction. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.3730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Steven Jay Lynn
- Department of Psychology Binghamton University (SUNY) Binghamton New York
| | - Irving Kirsch
- Program in Placebo Studies Harvard Medical School Boston Massachusetts
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Abstract
Decades of research show that people are susceptible to developing false memories. But if they do so in one task, are they likely to do so in a different one? The answer: "No". In the current research, a large number of participants took part in three well-established false memory paradigms (a misinformation task, the Deese-Roediger-McDermott [DRM] list learning paradigm, and an imagination inflation exercise) as well as completed several individual difference measures. Results indicate that many correlations between false memory variables in all three inter-paradigm comparisons are null, though some small, positive, significant correlations emerged. Moreover, very few individual difference variables significantly correlated with false memories, and any significant correlations were rather small. It seems likely, therefore, that there is no false memory "trait". In other words, no one type of person seems especially prone, or especially resilient, to the ubiquity of memory distortion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca M Nichols
- a School of Social Sciences , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore , Singapore
| | - Elizabeth F Loftus
- b Psychology and Social Behavior , University of California , Irvine , CA , USA
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Scoboria A, Wade KA, Lindsay DS, Azad T, Strange D, Ost J, Hyman I. A mega-analysis of memory reports from eight peer-reviewed false memory implantation studies. Memory 2016; 25:146-163. [DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2016.1260747] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Allen JJB, Mertens R. Limitations to the detection of deception: True and false recollections are poorly distinguished using an event-related potential procedure. Soc Neurosci 2009; 4:473-90. [DOI: 10.1080/17470910802109939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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8
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Peterson T, Kaasa SO, Loftus EF. Me Too!: Social modelling influences on early autobiographical memories. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2009. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.1455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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10
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Abstract
The issues surrounding repressed, recovered, or false memories have sparked one of the greatest controversies in the mental health profession in the twentieth century. We review evidence concerning the existence of the repression and recovery of autobiographical memories of traumatic events and research on the development of false autobiographical memories, how specific therapeutic procedures can lead to false memories, and individual vulnerability to resisting false memories. These findings have implications for therapeutic practice, for forensic practice, for research and training in psychology, and for public policy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth F Loftus
- Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, California 92697-7085, USA.
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11
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Bernstein DM, Laney C, Morris EK, Loftus EF. False beliefs about fattening foods can have healthy consequences. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2005; 102:13724-31. [PMID: 16079200 PMCID: PMC1236554 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0504869102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
We suggested to 228 subjects in two experiments that, as children, they had had negative experiences with a fattening food. An additional 107 subjects received no such suggestion and served as controls. In Experiment 1, a minority of subjects came to believe that they had felt ill after eating strawberry ice cream as children, and these subjects were more likely to indicate not wanting to eat strawberry ice cream now. In contrast, we were unable to obtain these effects when the critical item was a more commonly eaten treat (chocolate chip cookie). In Experiment 2, we replicated and extended the strawberry ice cream results. Two different ways of processing the false suggestion succeeded in planting the false belief and producing avoidance of the food. These findings show that it is possible to convince people that, as children, they experienced a negative event involving a fattening food and that this false belief results in avoidance of that food in adulthood. More broadly, these results indicate that we can, through suggestion, manipulate nutritional selection and possibly even improve health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel M Bernstein
- University of Washington and Kwantlen University College, Department of Psychology, Box 351525, Seattle, WA 98195-1525, USA
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12
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McNally RJ, Clancy SA, Barrett HM, Parker HA. Reality monitoring in adults reporting repressed, recovered, or continuous memories of childhood sexual abuse. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY 2005; 114:147-52. [PMID: 15709821 DOI: 10.1037/0021-843x.114.1.147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
People who report either repressed or recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) may have deficits in reality monitoring--the process whereby one discriminates memories of percepts from memories of images. Using signal detection methods, the authors found that adults reporting either repressed or recovered memories of CSA were less able to discriminate between words they had seen from words they had imagined seeing than were adults reporting either never having forgotten their CSA or adults reporting no history of CSA. Relative deficits in the ability to discriminate percepts from images (i.e., low d') were apparent on only some tests. The groups did not differ in their criterion--response bias--for affirming having seen versus imagined stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard J McNally
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
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DePrince AP, Allard CB, Oh H, Freyd JJ. What's in a Name for Memory Errors? Implications and Ethical Issues Arising From the Use of the Term "False Memory" for Errors in Memory for Details. ETHICS & BEHAVIOR 2004; 14:201-33. [PMID: 15875322 DOI: 10.1207/s15327019eb1403_1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
Abstract
The term "false memories" has been used to refer to suggestibility experiments in which whole events are apparently confabulated and in media accounts of contested memories of childhood abuse. Since 1992 psychologists have increasingly used the term "false memory" when discussing memory errors for details, such as specific words within lists. Use of the term to refer to errors in details is a shift in language away from other terms used historically (e.g., "memory intrusions"). We empirically examine this shift in language and discuss implications of the new use of the term "false memories." Use of the term presents serious ethical challenges to the data-interpretation process by encouraging over-generalization and misapplication of research findings on word memory to social issues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne P DePrince
- Department of Psychology, University of Denver, 2155 South Race Street, Denver, CO 80208, USA.
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Merckelbach H, Muris P. The causal link between self-reported trauma and dissociation: a critical review. Behav Res Ther 2001; 39:245-54. [PMID: 11227807 DOI: 10.1016/s0005-7967(99)00181-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 122] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
The idea that traumatic experiences cause dissociative symptoms is a recurrent theme in clinical literature. The present article summarizes evidence that cast doubts on the commonly voiced view that the connection between self-reported trauma and dissociation is a simple and robust one. It is argued that: (1) the correlations between self-reported traumatic experiences and dissociative symptoms reported in the literature are, at best, modest; (2) other factors may act as a third variable in the relationship between trauma and dissociation; and (3) high scores on the Dissociative Experiences Scale are accompanied by fantasy proneness, heightened suggestibility, and susceptibility to pseudomemories. These correlates of dissociation may promote a positive response bias to retrospective self-report instruments of traumatic experiences. Thus, the possibility that dissociation encourages self-reported traumatic experiences rather than vice versa merits investigation. While attractive, simple models in which trauma directly causes dissociation are unlikely to be true.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Merckelbach
- Department of Psychology, Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
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Mazzoni GAL, Loftus EF, Kirsch I. Changing beliefs about implausible autobiographical events: A little plausibility goes a long way. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2001. [DOI: 10.1037/1076-898x.7.1.51] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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16
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Horselenberg R, Merckelbach H, Muris P, Rassin E, Sijsenaar M, Spaan V. Imagining fictitious childhood events: the role of individual differences in imagination inflation. Clin Psychol Psychother 2000. [DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0879(200005)7:2%3c128::aid-cpp238%3e3.0.co;2-q] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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17
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Horselenberg R, Merckelbach H, Muris P, Rassin E, Sijsenaar M, Spaan V. Imagining fictitious childhood events: the role of individual differences in imagination inflation. Clin Psychol Psychother 2000. [DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0879(200005)7:2<128::aid-cpp238>3.0.co;2-q] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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