False Memories EPQ

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, or whatever it is that you think you remember?"- Elizabeth Loftus.                                                                                                                                                         Background on the study Professor Elizabeth Loftus is the woman at the very front line of  research into false memories and the now coined 'misinformation effect'. Hundreds of studies, from small to large, have been conducted by Loftus herself and her students. She believes that memory involves interpreting what is seen or heard then...

The term 'false memories' refers to cases in which people remember events differently from the way in which they actually occurred, or in severe cases, remember events that never happened at all.    False memories have been a query long in psychology, being studied as early as Sigmund Freud, being woven into his theories of memory repression of past events and trauma. These studies have only snowballed and gained more and more traction in recent decades with more attention being given to the subject. Frederic Barlett:  In the event of memory recall, the reconstruction of the memory can be fragmented with missing details which means that the false aspects of the memory are only filled in as the human brain recalls the information and adds fitting context around it. This context comes from theoretical 'schemas' which are essentially files of information from past learning and experiences which the brain can process and use to complete the memory ( Ba...

   My last plan was far too scattered and more of a mind map of ideas and rough plans. It helped to set vague goals however after having time to progress with my blog and process the amount of time and effort that it approximately takes per post, I now have a more realistic mindset to base a more rigid plan on. Where I went wrong and what I learnt from it:    I was too ambitious with my plans; I hoped to get 7 blog posts finalised before the new year. I understand now that I need a less intimidating time schedule which can be more realistically achieved which will motivate me to go even further. I now aim for a much lower number of blog posts as I have chosen to alternate between denser, more time-consuming, blog posts and review-style shorter posts of shows, articles, and others' research. Additionally, I also wrongly assumed that I'd be completing blog posts all the way up until December yet I plan to finish research by late August so I will do  less res...

          The Netflix series, 'The Mind Explained', has an episode dedicated to memory and delves into the idea of false memories of huge world events and covers individual examples of real people's experiences.        One case that the episode discusses is of Melanie Mignucci, a child during the tragedy of 9/11 when the World Trade Centre was crashed into by hijacked planes. Mignucci gives a personal anecdote of her very distinct memories of seeing 'smoke billowing out over the water of the Long Island Sound' from the window of her elementary school. However this very specific memory is unravelled as the facts were checked and her classroom windows didn't even look over the water.  Her elementary school was 40 miles away from The World Trade Centre with the smoke drifting in the opposite direction. This is a prime example of how unreliable our memory is and by using a multitude of clips and stories of the media outbur...

    The question may seem simple but really, what are memories? What are they made of and how are they stored in the brain? How does the mind trigger the vivid reconstruction of your whole life to be remembered at any moment? The fundamentals of memory provide the building blocks for who you are; the collection of snapshots of your culture and upbringing that mould your personality. Yet, memory isn't as simple as picking the recollection of a whole day's events from a filing cabinet in your brain, but rather piecing together snippets to get a millisecond's worth of your past. So how does the human brain do this?    In order to have a full understanding of false memories, I must first understand what memories are before the brain corrupts them. Therefore, I've taken to research to teach myself the science behind a  significant fraction of my EPQ title. What is the science behind our memory?    Our brain forms memories through connections between...

   Realistically, I'm aware that any plans to manage my time effectively have to be so flexible at this point. I will have times where I will prioritise other things: AS work, assessments and the rest of it. But I will also have times, I'm sure, where my project will be at the forefront of my mind.      I planned a rough idea of the long-term goals and for the project and the main thing I concluded was that I aim to have it in full completion by around December 2020. Some very rough maths and estimates mean that in the short-term I'd like to complete around 6-7 blog posts by the new year- though I hope to exceed this since once I begin to research I think that I won't want to stop.    I'm usually particularly bad at managing my time with procrastination taking up more of my time than actual work. However, making a physical plan means that I can hold myself accountable so in theory, this should help me get better at using my time well. I hope that o...

   Coming into the EPQ lesson, I hadn't got a single idea of what to do my topic on; when told to 'do a project on whatever you want' the idea is weirdly daunting. My mind went straight to psychology since it (to me) is a very intriguing subject that I'd happily spend hours watching videos and reading studies on. I would also do a dissertation as my final piece as I study English literature and want to improve my extended writing abilities. However narrowing 'psychology' down to a less vague area only made it harder to choose from so many psychological ideas and case studies.      Here were my initial ideas: Moral licensing- essentially the explanation for a part of our moral compass and how we balance good and bad decisions.  Psychedelics and their potential in treating mental illnesses.  False memories- the way the brain can fill in missing memories and even construct completely new memories of experiences that never happened.  ...