Digitally manipulating memory:Effects of doctored videos and imagination in distorting beliefs and memories

摘要

In prior research on false autobiographical beliefs and memories, subjects have been asked to imagine fic-tional events and have been exposed to false evidence that indicates that the fictional events occurred. But whatare the relative contributions of imagination and false evidence toward false belief and memory construction?In the present study, subjects observed and copied various simple actions; then they viewed doctored videos thatsuggested that they had performed extra actions and they imagined performing some of those and some other ac-tions. Subjects returned 2 weeks later for a memory test. False evidence or imagination alone was often sufficientto cause belief and memory distortions; in combination, they appeared to have additive or even superadditiveeffects. The results bear on the mechanisms underlying false beliefs and memories, and we propose legal andclinical applications of these findings.