Ted Talk: Elizabeth Loftus. The Illusion of Memory.

Elizabeth Loftus, a Psychologist specialising in memory, is used to people asking her why they forget names or dates, or why, when walking into a room with purpose, they experience that really disconcerting feeling of 'why have a come in here?' but that isn't where Loftus' interest lies.

Loftus is interested in the study of false memory, that is, memories that an individual may recount with detail and conviction, but are in fact not actual memories, they have arisen either through suggestion, misinformation, or, in the extreme, been deliberately planted.  Loftus begins by telling us the story of a young man named Steve Titus, who, due to incorrect eye witness testimony was wrongly imprisoned for rape.  Titus' story hits home the importance of police questioning in such instances, which can sometimes lead a witness to recollect facts about an incident or features of a perpetrator that are simply not accurate.  Of course, this type of false memory is incredibly important but doesn't really relate to my field of teaching: Counselling.  So, what is the link here, I hear you say?

Loftus has recently turned her attention to psychotherapy, specifically, the cases of individuals who undergo psychotherapy and suddenly remember childhood abuse during the therapeutic intervention.  Indeed, she cites a case in which a young lady uncovers abuse meted out by her mother during her childhood, which Loftus has uncovered as a false memory- it simply didn't happen.  Now, I don;t think that Loftus, nor I am suggesting for one single second that this is nefarious behaviour on the part of the therapist, but rather that it is possible that the in-depth exploration of childhood as a means of understanding adult trauma may lead one to dredge up 'false memories'.

Whilst I appreciate that this type of thing probably does occur, I can't help being slightly uncomfortable with the idea of false memory in regard to cases of historic child abuse.  It concerns me that this may become the next legal 'loophole' in which defence barristers may link the clients' engagement with psychotherapy (understandable for those with trauma) with the idea of false memory. How can one prove one way or the other?  Could this be the 'get out of jail card' for paedophiles?  Sounds dramatic, but stranger things have happened.

There can be little doubt that Loftus' work is invaluable to the field of memory, and this Ted talk is inspirational in driving that fact home to the viewer, however, when using this particular talk with my students I will be urging caution and critical thinking when it comes to psychotherapy and false memory.