Lab-based research shows that adults can be convinced, over the course of a few hours, that as teens they perpetrated crimes that never actually occurred.
  • @SleeplessEnglish
    1•1 year ago

    For decades now - usually once or twice a year - I have a dream with a recurring theme. In the dreams, something happens which triggers a long-repressed memory. The memory is of me either killing someone or being responsible for someone dying. In the dream, the killing is concealed and I go on with my life. But when the dream memory comes to the surface it causes such anxiety that I wake up panicked. I usually have to really think hard to convince myself I’m not actually responsible for anyone’s death. Based on this article, I have no doubt some deep-seated neuroses would put me at risk for this sort of thing.

    • KabeOPMEnglish
      1•1 year ago

      Well, nightmares and dream-related anxiety are generally thought to point to unresolved psychological trauma. The long-repressed memory that is triggered in your dream may symbolize an unresolved conflict or traumatic experience from your past. The concealment of the killing could suggest that there is a part of yourself that is trying to suppress or deny these aggressive or guilty feelings.

      That could, I suppose, make a person more susceptible to the implantation of false memories, but the study doesn’t seem to address that topic, nor go into detail about the selection criteria for the participants.