Though the induced false memories are attributable to "source monitoring
errors" (i.e. not realizing an invalid source), there is another, more
prevalent, side to the "source monitoring error" problem; poor quality
sources. For example, a poor quality "news" source (or intentionally
biased "news" source) can easily influence and manipulate both your
perspective on and memory of particular events.
As far as I know, there has never been a "perfectly accurate, factual,
and unbiased" news source, so the learned skill of "source monitoring"
is vitally important to maintaining a well-informed perspective. From
the paper, children are more susceptible to intentional influence and
false suggestions, but even as adults, we're still susceptible.
I haven't seen much if any media from Viacom or Disney that involves depicting the viewer doing something they didn't actually do. Can you be a bit more specific?
It has an interesting relationship to the moral panic regarding "ritual satanic abuse" and certain trials purporting to discover crimes in repressed memories. Those issues, which had a certain cultural currency at certain times, almost created this particular kind of research on memory which is now decades old.
I'm definitely not "qualified" and I'm not an "expert" (or even vaguely
informed), but after reading four of other papers from Jeremy Bailenson,
I can tell you this much; he tends to write in an easily readable and
approachable style, and gives solid support both through his own data
and prior research references.
The phase "source monitoring" is a term of the (academic) trade, and as
far as I know, it roughly means, being aware (monitoring) of how our
experiences are occurring and have occurred in the past (i.e. from
various sources). For example, did you read it in a book? Or read it in
an article? Or see it happen live? Or see it in a movie? Or hear it
happen live? Or hear it told to you second-hand? Or are you remembering
it from a dream you had? Or ... The methods by which our experiences
occur has an impact on how they are perceived, and an impact on how they
are later remembered.
Though "false memories" sure seems like bad linkbait phrase to use in a
title, it's also a term of the academic trade. It means you're unable to
differentiate between memories of actual "live" experiences you've had
in real life, and memories of perceived or "make believe" experiences.
The paper cites previous work showing how children are more susceptible
to false memories in general than adults, and then goes on to show how
children are especially susceptible to false memories induced through
immersive virtual reality.
If I'm _really_ lucky, maybe someone from the Stanford Virtual Human
Interaction Lab (VHIL) will show up and correct me where I'm wrong, but
the above is the best I can give you.
9 comments
[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 29.5 ms ] threadAs far as I know, there has never been a "perfectly accurate, factual, and unbiased" news source, so the learned skill of "source monitoring" is vitally important to maintaining a well-informed perspective. From the paper, children are more susceptible to intentional influence and false suggestions, but even as adults, we're still susceptible.
The phase "source monitoring" is a term of the (academic) trade, and as far as I know, it roughly means, being aware (monitoring) of how our experiences are occurring and have occurred in the past (i.e. from various sources). For example, did you read it in a book? Or read it in an article? Or see it happen live? Or see it in a movie? Or hear it happen live? Or hear it told to you second-hand? Or are you remembering it from a dream you had? Or ... The methods by which our experiences occur has an impact on how they are perceived, and an impact on how they are later remembered.
Though "false memories" sure seems like bad linkbait phrase to use in a title, it's also a term of the academic trade. It means you're unable to differentiate between memories of actual "live" experiences you've had in real life, and memories of perceived or "make believe" experiences.
The paper cites previous work showing how children are more susceptible to false memories in general than adults, and then goes on to show how children are especially susceptible to false memories induced through immersive virtual reality.
If I'm _really_ lucky, maybe someone from the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL) will show up and correct me where I'm wrong, but the above is the best I can give you.