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- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- health
- science
- [email protected]
An interesting article reminding us how eyewitness testimony can be a highly unreliable form of evidence.
The full paper can be read here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270964372_Constructing_Rich_False_Memories_of_Committing_Crime
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.
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.