Decoding the phenomenon of implanted human brain memories

Human memories can be altered by implanting false memories, or because the brain creates unreal memories.

Many people sometimes remember the same very different event because the memory may change. Humans can be implanted with false memories, or because the brain creates unreal memories. However, the brain sometimes creates false memories is not necessarily negative, according to Science Alert.

Human memories can be distorted.(Photo: Mind Hacks).

Elizabeth F. Loftus, professor of cognitive psychology and human memory, carries out studies showing that memories can be distorted.

In one study, participants were shown videos that simulated accidents or crimes. Scientists then led them to believe that the car in the accident ran through a stop sign instead of giving way, or the burglar had curly hair instead of straight hair.

"The distortion of memories of details that viewers actually see is done quite easily by providing them with prompt information , " Loftus said.

The team continues to ask the question, is it possible to implant a completely false memory into the brain of things that have never happened. As a result, this is possible.

Ordinary people can transplant memories of events that have never happened.(Photo: Business Insider).

Loftus and some other researchers, including Julia Shaw, successfully implanted new memories into the normal human brain. In one study, scientists made 70% of participants believe that they had committed a crime such as stealing or assaulting only with techniques of memory during interrogations.

Famous artist Salvador Dali once said: "The difference between fake memories and true memories is the same as for gems, the authors always look the most, the most brilliant. " This may help explain why people quickly believe in false memories.

The concept of distorting memories appeared more than 100 years ago, when psychologist Hugo Münsterberg wrote in Times magazine about a woman dying in Chicago. The son of a farmer is charged with murder. After being questioned by the police, he admitted that he murdered the woman even though she had an alibi.

He was willing to confess and recount the incident, each in more detail. The story is becoming more contradictory and absurd. However, the boy was eventually convicted and executed. Münsterberg thinks he unconsciously set up the story after the police questioned him.

False confessions can occur when being questioned fiercely. Maybe the victim actually believes they have committed a crime, or they just want to end the questioning. Loftus said, unless there's a reason to suspect someone's memories were distorted, there's no way to be sure this person is retelling a false memory if he just listens.

Some people may plead guilty to false memories.(Photo: Undark).

Neuroscientists used to scan the brains of people with fake and true memories to find differences. In a study by the University of Daegu, South Korea, 11 participants read a list of many words arranged in different groups, such as "livestock".

Later, the team asked them if certain words were included in the initial list, and used functional magnetic resonance imaging to detect changes in blood circulation to brain regions.

When participants were confident in their answers and rightly, blood circulation to the hippocampus increased. The hippocampus is an important brain area for storing information and forming memories. If they are sure but answer incorrectly, the number of cases is about 20%, blood circulation to the frontal brain area and the peak increases. This is an area associated with a familiar feeling.

There is a theory that explains why the brain appears fake memories called "vague hypothesis" by researchers Charles Brainerd and Valerie F. Reyna. This is also the first hypothesis to explain the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) model.

Under the DRM model, participants are provided with a list of related words such as bed, sleep, tiredness, dreaming, yawning, and then repeat as many words as possible. They began to list related words like naps or naps, while they were not on the original list.

"People repeat words that are not on the list and are very sure. It's fake memories," Reyna said.

False memories make people remember events that have never happened.(Photo: ABC News).

According to the vague, hypothetical hypothesis, there are two types of memories that are verbatim memories and main ideas. Textual memory is when people remember exactly what happens in detail, while mindful memories are vague visualizations of past events.

"When we grow up and grow old, we depend more on the main memory than on the original , " Reyna said. The main memory is more influential when recalling an event that happened a long time ago.

The vague hypothesis predicts the exact effects of age on memory, called "reverse development effects". As adults, the original memory will develop, one can recount more detailed events, but at the same time, the main memory also develops. "This means that if all the correct memories are cleared and the memory is wrong, the exact memory rate of children will be higher than adults," Reyna explained.

In fact, everyone creates fake memories to some extent but people still manage well, Reyna said. From an evolutionary point of view, even relying on the main memory brings some benefits.

The main memory can help people make safer choices.(Photo: 123Gamble).

Reyna's research shows that the main memory helps people make decisions that are more conducive to risk.

The Allais paradox sets the situation, participants are given the choice between a bet with a 100% winning rate of one million USD and a B-bet with 89% winning one million USD, 10% winning 5 million USD and 1 % do not have anything.

From an economic point of view, if calculating by formula, you should choose B to be able to get the most money. However, in fact most people choose A to be sure to bring in a million dollars.

"Most people think that getting a large sum of money is better than risking nothing, that's because the main memory. The main idea and the tendency to choose in this way increases as an adult. The problem is not maximizing money but looking at certain possibilities , " Reyna explained.

Instead of thinking that imperfect memories are negative effects of age, people think it can help us make safer, more informed decisions, Reyna commented. The main memory is also a way to express the human brain that is able to adapt well to the surrounding.