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Misconceptions about false memory
False memory, also known as pseudomemory, is a memory of something that didn't happen, or a memory that is a distortion of how things actually happened. Within internet RAMCOA circles, misinformation is often spread about what false memories can/can't do or be. These commonly spread inaccuracies are dangerous, and make people more susceptible to abusive conspiracy theorist therapists. Therapists who believe in conspiracy theories are unfortunately common in the field of dissociative disorders, and they often pressure their patients into "recovering" memories that validate the therapist's conspiracy theory beliefs. For example, a therapist who believes in the Illuminati may push their patient to "recover" memories of being a high priest in the Illuminati. This can result in the patient forming false memories, which mentally destabilizes them, leaving them more vulnerable and reliant on the abusive therapist. It's important individuals are informed of how false memories actually function, so they're aware of the possibility that they may have developed false memories themselves, and protect themselves from falling into a toxic and abusive therapeutic relationship.
Misconception #1: The term "false memory" and/or the concept of false memory was invented by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation.
Truth: The False Memory Syndrome Foundation was founded in 1992 (1). The term "false memory" or "false memories" appears in multiple articles, books, and chapters published before 1992 (2). The term and concept of "false memory" was not invented by the FMSF, it existed before it, and criticisms towards the FMSF do not discredit decades of valid, valuable research into false memories.
Misconception #2: You cannot form false memories of repeated events.
Truth: Research has found it is possible for someone to form false memories of repeated events. Additionally, the study found that the rate of false memory formation for repeated events was not significantly less than false memory formation of singular events, suggesting that false memories of repeated events are as easy to form as false memory of singular events (3).
Misconception #3: You cannot form false memories of childhood experiences.
Truth: There is a plethora of research showing it is possible to form false memories of childhood experiences (3, 4, 7, 8, 17, 19).
Misconception #4: You cannot form false memories of odd, bizarre, or unlikely experiences.
Truth: You can absolutely form false memories of unusual and unlikely events. Studies have found it was possible to implant false memories of unusual and unlikely childhood events, like having pizza at McDonalds, spilling punch on a bride at a wedding, the sprinklers going off in a supermarket, and causing a minor accident while being left in the car (4). Other research went farther, and found it was possible to create false memories of committing a crime involving police contact, or impossible memories, such as memories of the first days after birth (5, 7).
Misconception #5: You cannot form false memories of an event you have never experienced, false memory can only change the details of an event.
Truth: There is a plethora of research showing it is possible to form false memories of an event you have never experienced (4, 5, 8, 17, 19).
Misconception #6: You cannot form false memories of a traumatic event.
Truth: You can form false memories of a traumatic event. Not only can memory of real traumatic events be altered to include false details, research has found it is possible to implant entirely false memories of potentially traumatizing events such as being attacked by an animal, a serious medial procedure, suffering an accident resulting in injury, witnessing a violent fight between parents, and being seriously harmed by a peer as a child (5, 6, 17, 19).
Misconception #7: Because researchers have never successfully implanted false memories of being abused throughout one's childhood in a study, this means that such false memories cannot occur.
Truth: Researchers have not attempted to implant false memories of someone being abused throughout their childhood as part of a study, because that would be extremely unethical to even try to do to someone. However, there are documented and studied experiences of people who have developed false memories of repeated childhood abuse due to their therapist pressuring them to recover memories (9, 10, 11). Roma Hart and Patricia Burgus are famous examples (12, 13). The experiences of these people show that it is in fact possible to develop false memories of repeated childhood abuse.
Misconception #8: False memories don't last over time.
Truth: It is possible for someone to have long-lasting false memories. One follow up study (2 years after the original study) with children who participated in a false memory study showed that although the number of false events the children believed decreased, 50% of the children still believed at least one or more false event had happened to them (14). Another study found that subjects confidence in their false memories persisted for weeks after the false memory was originally implanted, and it continued to affect the participant's preferences (15). Research shows that while time may diminish false memories, it doesn't necessarily extinguish them.
Misconception #9: False memories cannot cause strong psychological and/or physiological effects.
Truth: Research has found that false memories can have strong emotional content and participants have rated them as "extremely stressful," and that one cannot reliably differentiate between real and false memories based on emotional content (17, 19). False memories can have persisting effects on people's preferences and behavior (15, 16). A study of people with alien abduction false memories found their physiological reactions to a script of their traumatic alien abduction false memories was comparable to the physiological reaction of PTSD patients to a script of their genuine traumatic memories (18).
Misconception #10: False memories require the use of drugs, hypnosis, or torture to form.
Truth: A plethora of research shows false memories can be implanted with just suggestion, or even develop naturally/spontaneously (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21).
[1] https://www.fmsfonline.org/index.php?about=EarlyHistory
[2] False Claims About False Memory Research (p. 34-35)
[3] Implanting False Autobiographical Memories for Repeated Events
[4] False Memories of Childhood Experiences
[5] Constructing Rich False Memories of Committing Crime
[6] Altering Traumatic Memory
[7] Creating false memories of infancy with hypnotic and non-hypnotic procedures
[8] A Mega-analysis of Memory Reports from Eight Peer-reviewed False Memory Implantation Studies
[9] A court ruled case on therapy-induced false memories
[10] The Construction of False Memory Syndrome: The Experience of Retractors
[11] Retractors of false memories: the evolution of pseudomemories
[12] Affidavit of Roma Elizabeth Hart
[13] Dangerous Therapy: The Story of Patricia Burgus and Multiple Personality Disorder
[14] Are false memories permanent?: An investigation of the long-term effects of source misattributions
[15] The persistence of false beliefs
[16] False memories about food can lead to food avoidance
[17] The Nature of Real, Implanted, and Fabricated Memories for Emotional Childhood Events: Implications for the Recovered Memory Debate
[18] Psychophysiological Responding During Script-Driven Imagery in People Reporting Abduction by Space Aliens
[19] Emotional content of true and false memories
[20] Natural Conversations as a Source of False Memories in Children: Implications for the Testimony of Young Witnesses
[21] The production of spontaneous false memories across childhood