A new study casts some doubt on something very personal: our memories.
About one in two people are highly prone to ‘remembering’ events that never happened, researchers from the University ofWarwick have found.
Dr Kimberley Wade in the Department of Psychology proved that if people are told about a completely fictitious event from “their lives,” they start to imagine it, and about half of people are willing to accept it as reality.
She and her colleagues recruited 400 participants, asking them to “recall” several different types of false memories – such as taking a childhood hot air balloon ride, playing a prank on a teacher, or creating havoc at a family wedding.
To some extent, more than 50% of them claimed they remember it – 30% of participants appeared to fully ‘remember’ the event while 23% showed signs that they accepted the suggested event to some degree....
A new study casts some doubt on something very personal: our memories. Research for the curious.