14 DAY TRIAL // Among our species, there are some individuals, known as memory experts, who can remember what they did in a particular day at a particular time three decades ago. A new study suggests that even these individuals are plagued by false memories, similar to the ones that spontaneously appear in the general population.
Previously, scientists believed that memory experts did not experience the false memory phenomenon, which was only “reserved” for people with average memories. A new study by experts at the University of California in Irvine now reveals that the rate of false memory formation is the same in both groups.
“Finding susceptibility to false memories even in people with very strong memory could be important for dissemination to people who are not memory experts. For example, it could help communicate how widespread our basic susceptibility to memory distortions is,” UCI investigator Lawrence Patihis says.
Details of the new investigation appear in the latest early online issue of the esteemed scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The fact that no one is immune to memory distortions could have significant implications on the credibility of court room witnesses everywhere, PsychCentral reports.