Chapter 8 Everyday memory and memory errors

Test yourself 8.1

1. What is autobiographical memory? What does it mean to say that it includes
both episodic and semantic components?

Step 1 of 2
Memory is a crucial aspect of our cognition for storing and retrieving information.
It helps us to remember the past, retain new information, solve problems and
plan for the future.

Step 2 of 2
Autobiographical memory is a kind of memory for personal experiences and
events in one’s own lives. It is the recollection of events from a person’s past. For
example, memory about the last summer vacation, first day in college etc. It also
includes memory about everyday events such as memory of what one had for
dinner last night.
Autobiographical memories contain both episodic and semantic components.
Episodic component holds information acquired at a specific time and place. This
is the memory that one experiences when remembering an event using “mental
time travel”. For example, memories associated with a birthday party when one
was a child may include memories of people present, the jokes shared, the games
and the music played.
Semantic component holds the general, abstract knowledge or facts associated
with an event. For example, the semantic component of the childhood birthday
party might include knowledge about where the family lived at the time and
normal knowledge about what generally happens in birthday parties.
Memories of recent events contain mostly episodic memory as it is rich in details
and emotional content whereas memories of distant events are dominated by
semantic memory. Thus, autobiographical memory is a fusion of both episodic
and semantic memories.

2. What does it mean to say that autobiographical memories are

multidimensional? How did Cabeza's photography experiment provide evidence
for this idea?
Answer:

Step 1 of 2

Autobiographical memory has long been of interest to psychologists who tried to

study it using several different ways because of its complex and multidimensional
nature.

Step 2 of 2
The spatial, emotional and sensory components of autobiographical memory
make it multidimensional in nature. Roberto Cabeza’s “photography experiment”
illustrated the presence of spatial, emotional and sensory components in
autobiographical memory.
In the study, two sets of photographs were shown to the participants, one set of
A-photos which were taken by the participants and one set of L-photos which
were taken by someone else. A few days later, they were shown A-photos, L-
photos and some unfamiliar L-photos during which their brain activity was being
measured using an MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging) scanner. The results of the
scans revealed that A-photos and L-photos activated the parietal cortex involved
in processing scenes as well as brain structures related to episodic memory.
There were also greater A-photo activation in the regions of the brain related to
handling information about the self, memory for visual space and emotions as
compared to L-photos indicating the ability of the autobiographical memory to
elicit memories rich in sensory, spatial and emotional components.

3. What types of events are often the most memorable? What would a plot of
“events remembered” versus “age” look like for a 50-year-old person? What
theories have been proposed to explain the peak that occurs in this function?

Answer:
Step 1 of 3

Events in one’s own life are not all equally memorable. Some events are
remembered much more easily as compared to other events.
Events that are often the most memorable include those associated with strong
emotions, personal landmarks or milestones, transition points and events
personally important to the individuals who experience them. For example,
graduating from college, marriage, first job, first baby and others are such events.

Step 2 of 3
A fifty year old person would recall fewer events from the age ranging from 5-10
years, followed by an increase in the frequency of events recalled between 13 to
25 years. This is followed by a drift in the memory of events between 30-45 years,
and then again an increase in the memory of recent events that occurred around
age 50.
Such heightened memory of young adulthood and adolescent years for people
above 40 is known as reminiscence bump. This is because special life events are
happening, during those years.

Step 3 of 3
Many theories have been proposed to explain this function. Self-image
hypothesis of the reminiscence bump proposes that the memory for events,
which occur as the self-image or the identity of a person develops, would be
enhanced. Most of these events occur during adolescence or early adulthood.
According to cognitive hypothesis, memories for episodes of rapid change,
followed by stability, would be strong. For example, the rapid change of
adolescence and early adulthood, such as graduating from college, securing a job,
marriage, and others, followed by the stability of adult life, creates enhanced
memories for adolescence and early adulthood years.
Yet another theory that explains the reminiscence bump is the cultural life script
hypothesis. This hypothesis states that events in the life of a person can be easily
recalled, when it corresponds to culturally shared expectations of that person’s
culture. For example, college at 22 years, marriage at 27 years, children at 28
years, all of which occur during the period of reminiscence bump.
4. What is the evidence that emotionally charged events are easier to remember
than nonemotional events? Describe the role of the amygdala in emotional
memory, including brain scan (fMRI) and neuropsychological (patient B.P.)
evidence linking the amygdala and memory.

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
Emotionally charged events experienced personally or collectively are more easily
remembered than non-emotional events. For example, the memory for
emotionally laden events such as 9/11 terrorist attacks or loss of a loved one
would be remembered better than other non-emotional events.

Step 2 of 3
Studies from laboratory research have confirmed the idea that emotionally
charged events are remembered better than other less emotionally charged
events. One such study by Elizabeth Phelps and Kevin LaBar in 1998 found that
participants’ memory for words that are arousing such as sexually explicit words
were better than memory for neutral words like street or store.
Similarly, in the year 2005 Florin Dolcos’ study revealed better memory for
emotional pictures as compared to neutral pictures one year after they were
initially presented.

Step 3 of 3
Additional research indicates that physiologically, the amygdala has been involved
in the formation of emotional memories. The fMRI (functional Magnetic
Resonance Imaging) brain scans showed higher amygdala activation for emotional
words as compared to the neutral words as measured when people were
remembering words in Dolcos experiment.
The role of amygdala in emotions has been tested on people who suffered
damage to it. Results revealed that participants who did not suffer from brain
damage when saw the slide show of an emotional story showed memory which
was enhanced for the story’s emotional part. On the other hand, participants who
had suffered from damage to the brain did not show any enhanced memory for
the story’s emotional part.
5. The idea of flashbulb memories has been debated by psychologists. What is
behind the idea that some memories are “special” and are therefore labeled as
“flashbulb” memories? What evidence indicates that memories for flashbulb
experiences are not long-lived like photographs? What evidence suggests that
there may, in fact, be something special about memory for flashbulb events?

Answer:

Step 1 of 4
Flashbulb memories are vivid memories for the situations surrounding extremely
charged emotion provoking events. They are termed “flashbulb” memories
because they seem to be preserved in memory in considerable detail, almost like
a photograph.

Step 2 of 4
Flashbulb memories are ‘special’, especially vivid or strong because they are
triggered by events that are shocking, emotionally charged, distinctive and
important to the people involved. For example, the memories of 9/11 terrorist
attacks. Based on Brown and Kulik’s research in 1977, there is something
exceptional about the mechanisms behind flashbulb memories as they remain in
memory for a long time period and are especially clear and elaborate.
They described the mechanism as “Now Print” mechanism as these memories are
similar to a photograph that refuses to fade. Thus this research supports the
evidence that flashbulb memories are special due to the mechanisms involved in
such memories like elaborateness of encoding, rehearsal and emotionality of the
event.

Step 3 of 4
Additional research on such memories has raised serious questions about
whether they are really special after all. The procedure used by Brown and Kulik
was faulty as the only data they gathered were the ones that people remembered
years after the events had taken place and did not include repeated recall.
Research employing the repeated recall method has revealed that flashbulb
memories are not so long lasting as photographs. Findings of research on
flashbulb memories suggested that although the memories are especially vivid
they are often imprecise and devoid of intricacies. For example, in a study,
Neisser in 1992 enquired about how the participants had heard about the
explosion of the space shuttle ‘challenger’. After a few years when the
participants were asked the same question, the descriptions were different from
the earlier ones suggesting that contrary to popular beliefs, flashbulb memories
are often quite inaccurate and do not provide individuals with perfect memory
snapshots of important public events.

Step 4 of 4
On comparing flashbulb memories to everyday memories, it is found that recall of
flashbulb memories are better than everyday memories suggesting that there is
something remarkable about memory for flashbulb events. This is probably due to
two features surrounding flashbulb events. First, they comprise extreme
emotions. For example, most people connect with strong emotions like disbelief,
anger, shock and fear on hearing about 9/11 terrorist attacks. Second, they
involve elaborative rehearsal. For example, the event and its aftermath were
covered extensively for months post the event in the media.
Thus, research on flashbulb memories revealed that the emotional context and
the elaborative encoding and rehearsal of the event makes some memories
‘special’ and resist fading.

Test yourself 8.2

1. Source monitoring errors provide an example of the constructive nature of
memory. Describe what source monitoring and source monitoring errors are and
why they are considered “constructive.” How does Bartlett's “War of the Ghosts”
experiment provide an example of source monitoring errors?
Step 1 of 3
Information entered into memory is often altered in various ways over time.
Sometimes, it is distorted, altered or constructed. Memory construction refers to
the addition of information that was not actually present. In other words, people
can recall events that did not actually occur, or experiences they never really had.
Step 2 of 3
Source monitoring refers to the mechanism of ascertaining the origins of one’s
memories, knowledge or beliefs. In other words, it is the process of identification
of the origins of specific memories. Source monitoring has been implicated in the
constructive nature of memory. It is because when one tries to remember
something, one has to first retrieve the memory, and then utilize a decision
process in order to determine the source of that memory.
Source monitoring error refers to the misidentification of the sources of specific
memories. For example, one remembers the information stored in memory, but
one attributes it to the wrong source. Source monitoring errors play an important
role in memory construction. Here, additional information, such as people’s
worldly knowledge, expectations, and things that occured before and after, is
added to actual event. This causes the distortion of the actual memory of the
event.
Step 3 of 3
In Bartlett’s “war of the ghosts experiment”, Edwardian England participants read
a story of Canadian folklore. Later, when they were asked to recall the story, most
of the participants’ version of story were shorter and contained various
omissions, inaccuracies and constructions as compared with the original one.
The most significant observation of the experiment was that the participants’
recall of the story was more consistent with the participants’ own culture. Thus,
participants formed their memories via 2 sources. One was original story. The
other story was their knowledge about the stories they have in their own culture.
Therefore, it can be said that source monitoring and source monitoring errors
play an important role in the constructive nature of human memory.

2. Describe the following examples of situations that involved source monitoring

errors: (1) familiarity ("Becoming Famous Overnight” experiment); (2) world
knowledge (gender stereotype experiment). Be sure you can describe the
experiments related to each example.
Answer:

Step 1 of 2
An individual’s knowledge and beliefs about the world effects the way
information is encoded, stored and retrieved. Source monitoring errors are
caused by such world knowledge and beliefs that distorts one’s memory.

Step 2 of 2
(a)
A growing body of research evidence suggests that a person’s memory is
influenced by familiarity and world knowledge. Larry Jacoby (1989) demonstrated
the effect of familiarity on memory. In the first part of the experiment, a number
of fabricated non famous names were read by the participants, like Sebastian
Weissdorf and Valerie Marsh and were told that these names were non-famous.
In the immediate test, they were asked to select the names of famous people
from a list enclosing famous names, non-famous names just seen, new unseen
non-famous names. It was seen that the participants could correctly identify most
non-famous names they had just seen.
However, in the delayed test which happened after 24 hours, some non-famous
names were misidentified as famous by the participants, indicating the influence
of familiarity on the memory of the participants. This showed that a source
monitoring error had occurred leading participants to conclude that familiarity
was caused by fame thus, making non-famous names famous overnight.
(b)
Memory errors occurring due to a person’s knowledge of the world has been
depicted in an experiment by Richard Marsh (2006). In this experiment,
participants were presented with a series of statements associated with the
stereotypes for males and females, and some neutral statements. Every
statement was put forward along with a name, either Pat or Chris, and
participating individuals had to remember statement as well as the individual who
uttered it.
Results revealed that source monitoring errors were more for typical male and
female statements, indicating that the participants’ retrieval of the memory was
influenced by their understanding of what “typical” females and males would say.
3. Describe the following examples of how memory errors can occur because of a
person’s knowledge of the world: (a) making inferences (pragmatic inference; “
birdhouse” experiment; baseball experiment); (b) schemas and scripts (office
experiment; dentist experiment); (c) false recall and recognition (“sleep”
experiment).

Answer:

Step 1 of 7
Memory can be influenced by conclusions that are made on the basis of one’s
practical experiences and knowledge of the world.

Step 2 of 7
(a)
An experiment by Brewer (1977), McDermott and Chan (2006) illustrated memory
errors based on pragmatic inference. In this experiment, participants were
presented with many sentences like “the new baby stayed awake all night”. Later,
they were given a fill in the blanks exercise based on those sentences.
For example, “the new baby ______ all night”. It was found that word changing
errors had occurred. For example, stayed awake became cried. These conclusions
were based on practical knowledge gained through handling babies.

Step 3 of 7
Another experiment by Bransford and Johnson (1973) analyzed memory for the
phrasing of action statements. In this experiment, it was found that more memory
errors were made by participating individuals in experimental group, who read
the statement, which mentioned ‘pounding the nail’.
This was in comparison to the control group, who had read the statement, which
mentioned ‘looking for the nail’. Participating individual’s inferences were based
on the knowledge of the use of a hammer in pounding nails, causing an error of
memory.

Step 4 of 7
Arkes and Freedman (1984) designed a memory experiment to bring out
conclusions based on the past experiences of the participants. In this experiment,
participants were presented with a passage about a baseball game. Later, they
were told to specify whether “the batter was safe at first” sentence was included
in passage.
Most of the participants who did not have knowledge of the game gave right
answers. On the other hand, the participants who had knowledge of the rules of
the game gave incorrect answers. This clearly shows that the incorrect
inference/judgment was made about the sentence due to the participants’
knowledge of the game.

Step 5 of 7
(b)
Schema of a thing or a situation refers to a person’s knowledge about that
particular aspect or thing. Schemas develop through one’s experiences in
different situations. An experiment by Brewer & Treyens, 1981) demonstrated the
effect of schemas on memory.
In this experiment, participants were seated in an office before being tested on a
memory task, wherein they had to jot down what they had seen as they were
sitting in the office. Results revealed that the participants responded by also
including some of the things that were not there, but that fit into their “office
schema”. Thus, schemas can influence one’s inferences about what one
remembers.

Step 6 of 7
Similarly one’s knowledge about the chain of actions that typically occur during a
specific experience, called script, can also influence one’s memory. Gordon Bower
(1979) conducted a study in which participants had to remember small passages
about familiar activities, like going to the dentist.
Later, they were asked to write down about each story what they remembered. It
was found that the participants’ responses also included material that was not
part of the original material, but fit into the script for the described activity. Thus,
knowledge of the dentist script influenced participants’ memory for the passage.

Step 7 of 7
(c)
Another experiment by James Deese (1959) demonstrated the constructive
nature of memory causing false memories. In this experiment, participants were
presented with a list of words, such as bed, rest, peace, pillow and blanket. Later,
they were told to jot down words they remember.
It was found that the participants reported an additional word ‘sleep’ from the list
which was not presented. It was concluded that remembering sleep was a false
memory which participants associated with other words on the list.
Thus, memory is not a flawless, rigid record of everything that takes place but is a
creative process/interplay of both true and false memories arising out of one’s
knowledge of the world.
4. What is the evidence from clinical case studies that “super memory” may have
some disadvantages? What are some advantages of constructive memory?

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
Clinical case studies have confirmed that “super memory” may perhaps have few
drawbacks too.

Step 2 of 3
The case of a Russian memory expert ‘S’, whose memory was found to be virtually
limitless for numbers or names, had trouble forgetting the massive amount of
information that he had remembered. Many things that flit through mind briefly
remained there even when he wanted to get rid of them. He was not poor in tasks
that required reasoning and making inferences based on partial information. This
may be due to his inability to erase the things that he no longer wants to
remember.
Unlike ‘S’, another case, A.J’s exceptional memory for personal life experiences
both positive and negative did not help her in remembering material for exams.
On testing, it was found that she also lacked skills important for thinking
creatively, such as organizing material, thinking abstractly and others.
Thus, results revealed that superior powers of memory may in fact work against
one’s capability to think innovatively. Storing all that is encountered can overload
the memory system making it inefficient. Therefore, a system of memory, which is
intended to selectively retain and recall things that are significant, improves its
survival value.

Step 3 of 3
Constructive nature of the memory system enables one to comprehend language,
solve problems and make decisions. It also helps in making inferences based on
partial information. Thus, constructive memory reveals the creative nature of
mental processes.
5. Why can we say that memory is highly functional but that it may not be
perfectly suited to all situations?

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
Memory is highly functional and serves well. However, sometimes the
requirements of some situations reveal that it is not perfectly suited to all
situations.

Step 2 of 3
Evolution has not helped one’s perceptual and memory system to deal with
requirements like giving eyewitness testimony in the court. In situations like
these, memory accidents can happen. For example, memory can be tailored by
suggestion causing memory errors. Such errors can have serious consequences. It
can put somebody’s liberty or life at risk.
In such situations, it is best to view memory systems as an imperfect and
potentially misleading source of information about reality.

Step 3 of 3
Therefore, in situations like these one can say that even though memory is
considered as something that is functional at a good rate, it is not necessarily
suitable to all the situations.
 Test yourself 8.3
1. Experiments showing that memory can be affected by suggestion have led to
the proposal of the misinformation effect. How has the misinformation effect
been demonstrated, and what mechanisms have been proposed to explain this
effect?

Step 1 of 4
A person’s memory for an incident is altered by events that take place after the
incident has happened. This is called misinformation effect. Thus, misleading post
event information can influence a person’s memory for that event.
Step 2 of 4
Memory can be influenced by suggestion has been demonstrated in studies in
which misleading post event information (MPI) is given to the participants.
An example is Loftus’s traffic accident experiment (1978) wherein participants
were presented with a string of slides that showed a car stopping at a stop sign
followed by hitting a pedestrian while taking a turn at the corner. They were then
asked a number of questions related to the incident. Results revealed that those
in the MPI group were likely to say that they had seen the photograph of the car
that was stopped at the yield sign which they had not actually seen in reality as
compared to the non MPI group indicating the influence of misinformation effect
on memory.
Presentation of MPI can also modify the inferences that people make about other
features of the event. For example, an experiment by Loftus et al (1974)
demonstrated how by changing the words used in the leading questions ( such as
replacing the word ‘hit’ with ‘smash’) asked after showing a film on a car crash,
changed the participants’ reported memories about the car crash scene. Results
of the study revealed that participants who heard the word ‘smash’ were more
likely to report seeing broken glass than participants who heard the word ‘hit’
indicating that memories which are in fact false, can be created by means of
suggestion.
Step 3 of 4
Many explanations have been proposed to describe the mechanisms involved in
misinformation effect. According to the memory trace replacement hypothesis,
the original memory trace for an event gets replaced by misleading post event
information. Thus, new memory traces are formed replacing the original
memories associated with that event causing misinformation effect.
Another explanation suggests that the memory for the old information is
interfered by the memory of the new information impeding the recall of the
previously learned actual or original information. This retroactive interference
causes misinformation effect.
Yet another explanation for misinformation effect comes from the fact that
misleading post event information causes source monitoring errors leading
participants to mistakenly identify something which was only suggested to them
as originally experienced.
Step 4 of 4
Thus, it can be said that misleading post event information causes misinformation
effect although the exact mechanisms that cause it are still being debated by
memory researchers.

2. How has it been shown that suggestion can influence people's memories for
early events in their lives?

Answer:

Step 1 of 2
People’s memories can be influenced in many ways by suggestion. It can either
create false memories or impair actual memories. Memories for events that
happened early in the life of people can be created by suggestion.

Step 2 of 2
An experiment by Hyman (1995) showed that suggestion can influence people to
create false memories for early events of their lives. In this experiment, the
experimenters gathered descriptions of actual events from the parents of their
participants. They also created some false events.
Later participants were asked to recall and describe the events in some detail.
Results revealed that the participants recalled and elaborated 20 percent of the
false events which never really happened indicating their ability to create false
memories for early events of their lives when presented with suggestion.
It was also shown that by presenting the participants’ images of their second or
first grade, the effect of false memory for events that occurred earlier could be
enhanced.
3. What is the evidence, both from “real life” and from laboratory experiments,
that eyewitness testimony is not always accurate? Describe how the following
factors have been shown to lead to errors in eyewitness testimony: weapons
focus, familiarity, leading questions, feedback from a police officer, and postevent
questioning.

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
Eyewitness testimony plays an important role in many trials. However,
eyewitnesses to crimes are far from infallible. In reality, they mistakenly recognize
guiltless persons as convicts. They forget important details regarding a crime, and
sometimes, testify “remembering” events they did not really witness.

Step 2 of 3
Evidence from both laboratory experiments and ‘actual life’ suggest that
eyewitness testimony is prone to errors. For example, DNA (deoxyribonucleic
acid) evidence has acquitted 248 innocent people, who served around twelve
years in prison in the United States as of December 2009. It was found that
seventy five percent of such pronouncements derived from eyewitness testimony.
Evidence from laboratory research too corroborates this fact. For instance, in a
study participants were shown a video involving the presence of a gunman for
eight seconds. Later, they were requested to select the picture of the gunman
from the photo spread. It was found that every participant picked someone even
when the perpetrator’s picture was not included in the photo spread. Similar
results were found in other studies, wherein 61% of the participants made an
incorrect judgment. Thus, evidence from these studies reveals that such
testimony about crimes is susceptible to errors of memory.

Step 3 of 3
Many factors have been identified that led to errors in eyewitness testimony.
Errors in memory for eyewitness testimony can happen due to inadequate
attention given to all relevant details. Since a crime scene is always associated
with intense emotions, the witness may fail to pay attention to all the important
details, such as the face or other features of the perpetrator, resulting in a
tapered attention. For instance, research results revealed that the presence of a
weapon distracted the witness’ ability to pay attention to other details resulting in
an impaired ability to identify the suspects.
Another factor behind erroneous eyewitness testimony is familiarity. It is found
that a witness misidentifies an innocent person to be a suspect just because
he/she looks familiar to the witness or resembles the suspect. For example, in a
study, participants were shown a film in which a female teacher was being looted,
and later, were required to identify the picture of the thief from a photo spread.
Results revealed that participants in the experimental group, who were earlier
shown a film of a male teacher reading to the students, were more probable to
select the picture of the male teacher. This was in comparison to the other group
who were not shown the film of the male teacher who resembled the robber,
indicating the role of familiarity in faulty eyewitness testimony.
Memory errors can also occur due to suggestion. For example, leading questions
put by police while interrogating a witness can influence his/her memory about
the actual event. Thus, suggestibility and misinformation effect can increase the
possibility that the witness may identify an innocent person to be guilty of the
crime.
Post event feedback can bolster witnesses’ confidence in their judgment.
Misleading post event feedback can distort the witness’ memory for the event,
leading to erroneous eyewitness testimony. Wells and Bradfield’s “Good, you
identified the suspect” experiment shows how the type of experimenter’s
feedback influenced the participant’s confidence in their identification. Results
revealed that participant’s confidence was highest in the case of confirming
feedback, followed by no feedback and least for disconfirming feedback.
Thus, existing evidence suggests that eyewitness testimonies are not as accurate a
source of information as the jurors/judges often assume. Misinformation, narrow
attention, suggestion, familiarity and other post event experiences can cause
errors in memory, resulting in faulty eyewitness testimony that can have serious
consequences.
4. What procedures have cognitive psychologists proposed to increase the
accuracy of eyewitness testimony?
Answer:

Step 1 of 3

Considering the fallibility of eyewitness testimony, cognitive psychologists have

suggested some ways to increase its accuracy.

Step 2 of 3
First, the witness should be informed prior to asking to identify the perpetrator
from the lineup that the perpetrator may not necessarily be present in that lineup
so as to minimize the risk of false identifications of innocent people.
Second, people who look similar to the suspect should be included when
constructing a lineup. Research revealed that when the suspect was not in that
lineup, then the increase in the similarity reduced false identifications of guiltless
people.
Third, it is essential to present the lineup sequentially rather than simultaneously
in order to decrease the chance of comparative judgment. It also improves the
chance of identification of the suspect when he is present in the lineup.
Fourth, the person administering the lineup should be unaware of the suspect
and should also get a confidence rating of the decision from the witness
immediately after the identification so as to reduce the chances of post event
feedback or suggestions.
Fifth, typical police interview should be replaced by cognitive interviews which
enhances the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. Cognitive interviews which
involve techniques such as allowing the witness to talk without any interruption,
recreating the scenes and analyzing it from different perspectives are found to be
better than the ordinary police interview.

Step 3 of 3
Thus, research reveals that the accuracy of eyewitness testimony can be
increased by keeping the above stated points in mind.
5. How does the suggestibility of memory pose problems for situations in which
adults, during therapy, remember having been abused as children?

Answer:
Step 1 of 3
Research on memory for early events revealed that memories that are false can
be created by means of suggestion. This poses a major problem in the situations
where adults remember being abused when they were children during therapy.

Step 2 of 3
Due to the false assumptions of the therapist about the client being abused as a
child during a therapy situation, the client unknowingly creates false memories of
childhood sexual abuse. Thus, suggestion can enhance the chances of creating
false memories.
Since, there are no techniques or procedures to determine whether a memory for
a particular event that happened years ago is real or fake, one created by
suggestion, many cases of childhood sexual abuse could have been accepted
uncritically because of which genuine cases went unnoticed and failed to receive
the attention it deserved.

Step 3 of 3
Therefore, considering the fallibility of human memory, it is important to examine
the specific situation under which the memories for events that occurred in the
past are elicited.