False memories of crime appear real when retold to others

People are no better than chance at identifying when someone else is recounting a false or real memory of a crime, according to a new UCL study. The findings, published in Frontiers in Psychology , build on a previous study that was the first to successfully implant false memories of committing a crime - involving either assault or assault with a weapon that resulted in police contact. Study author Dr Julia Shaw (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences) said: "Everyone thinks that they couldn't be tricked into believing they have done something they never did, and that if someone were telling them about a false memory, they would be able to spot it. But we found that actually, people tend to be quite susceptible to having false memories, and they sound just like real memories." For the previous study, published in 2015*, Dr Shaw and a colleague invited young adults into a study about emotional memories, and also spoke with a member of their family to learn about events from the participants' early adolescence, in as much detail as possible. The researchers spoke to the participants about their past, and used leading questions and suggestive tactics, as well as visualisation techniques to convince the participants that they were helping them recover a forgotten memory - while in fact they were implanting a false memory that the participant had committed a crime when they were young, such as theft or assault. "We were essentially doing exactly 'what not to do' when conducting a police interview," explained Dr Shaw.