Total recall? Childhood memories may not be the real thing

Published on Sunday 1 August 2010 17:29

SOME of our most cherished and vivid childhood memories may be nothing but figments of imagination, research suggests.

The memory really can play tricks, a team of British psychologists found when they interviewed a group of 1,600 students. Those taking part in the study were asked to recall memories of events they now knew had not taken place.

A fifth said they experienced "fictional" memories, mostly dating back to when they were four to eight years old.

In some cases, a parent or sibling revealed the truth about a false memory. On other occasions, the event or incident was so implausible it simply could not have happened — even though the person recalled it clearly.

One participant claimed to remember meeting the real Santa Claus, while another recalled having seen a living dinosaur.

Others had memories of flying unaided, and one remembered being a hockey player, even though she never played the game.

The findings are published in the journal Psychological Science.

Professor Giuliana Mazzoni, from the University of Hull's psychology department, said: "Autobiographical memory provides us with a sense of identity and it is usually accurate enough to help us negotiate our lives.

"But as our study shows, not all that we remember about our past is true.

"Our research also shows that this phenomenon of non- believed memories is much more frequent than people had imagined. Crucially, if these memories are not challenged by some form of evidence, they would still be considered part of the individual's autobiographical experience."

One famous account of a non-real memory involved the developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. wFor years he believed his vivid memories of being kidnapped in a park at the age of two while out with his nurse.

He could even recall scratches on his nurse's face caused by the attacker.

Thirteen years later, the nurse confessed that she had made up the story, yet Piaget was unable to stop remembering the traumatic event as if it had happened.