Stephen Black writes: >Mitt Romney claimed to be present at and remember a public >parade in Detroit which took place nine months before he was >born. OK, unless it was a fetal memory, a very early one. >http://snipurl.com/22dos24
Whether it was a false memory or "just more political BS" as suggested by Paul Brandon, people's claims about recalling such-and-such from the past are usually are taken at face value (at least I have found this to be the case over the years from reading newspapers and books). Most people (including otherwise well educated folk) have little idea of the malleability of memory. Leaving aside the more well known work in this field by psychologists (e.g., in *Memory Observed*, co-edited by the recently deceased Ulric Neisser), I recall a passage in a book I came across a few years ago. In his 1957 book *Memory* (no explanatory subtitles in those days :-) ), I. M. L. Hunter reports an experiment undertaken by two Cambridge psychologists who, without the knowledge of the participants, recorded a meeting of the Cambridge Psychological Society. Two weeks later they asked all who had attended to write down everything they could recall of the meeting. They found that some 42 percent of the recalled points were substantially incorrect, including happenings which had never taken place at all: "In short, what was recalled was not only fragmentary, but also distorted, and much was recalled which, in fact, had never happened" (Hunter 1957, Penguin Books, pp. 160-161.) Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London allenester...@compuserve.com http://www.esterson.org ---------------------------------------------- From: sbl...@ubishops.ca Subject: False memory strikes again Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:05:31 -0500 A good classroom example (a nod to the relevancy issue): Mitt Romney claimed to be present at and remember a public parade in Detroit which took place nine months before he was born. OK, unless it was a fetal memory, a very early one. http://snipurl.com/22dos24 I note with modest pride that it was a Canadian newspaper which ferreted this out. Stephen -------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca --------------------------------------------- From: Brandon, Paul K <paul.bran...@mnsu.edu> Subject: Re: False memory strikes again Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:16:43 +0000 A false memory, or just more political BS? On Feb 27, 2012, at 9:05 AM, <sbl...@ubishops.ca> <sbl...@ubishops.ca> wrote: > A good classroom example (a nod to the relevancy issue): > > Mitt Romney claimed to be present at and remember a public parade in > Detroit which took place nine months before he was born. OK, unless > it was a fetal memory, a very early one. > > http://snipurl.com/22dos24 > > I note with modest pride that it was a Canadian newspaper which > ferreted this out. > > Stephen Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato paul.bran...@mnsu.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=16323 or send a blank email to leave-16323-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
