Imaging the reconstruction of true and false memories using sensory reactivation and the misinformation paradigms

  1. Elizabeth F. Loftus3
  1. 1Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California 92629, USA
  2. 2Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
  3. 3Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, Criminology, Law and Society, Cognitive Sciences, School of Law, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California 92629, USA

    Abstract

    Many current theories of false memories propose that, when we retrieve a memory, we are not reactivating a veridical, fixed representation of a past event, but are rather reactivating incomplete fragments that may be accurate or distorted and may have arisen from other events. By presenting the two phases of the misinformation paradigm in different modalities, we could observe sensory reactivation of the auditory and visual cortex during the retrieval phase. Overall, true and false memories showed similar brain activation, but could be distinguished by this reactivation. This was true only in the early regions of the sensory cortex.

    Footnotes

    • 4 Corresponding author.

      E-mail cestark{at}uci.edu; fax (949) 824-2447.

    • Received April 21, 2010.
    • Accepted July 27, 2010.
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