Chanelly Martinez

Literature Review

11/06/2023

Literature Review

Synopsis: The topic I have chosen for my research essay is explaining what a false memory is. This ties into the medical field which is what I am interested in. In addition, I found this topicinteresting because a lot of individuals go through a false memory including me. Therefore thenext few sources will dive deeper into this topic.

Perera, Ayesh. “False Memory in Psychology: Examples & More.” Simply Psychology, 7 Sept.2023, www.simplypsychology.org/false-memory.html.

Summary: What is a false memory? A false memory is when we remember something so specific and believe it is true, even though it isn’t. This is a common thing that happens to everyone, even those who have the best memory. A false memory can occur when we are influenced by outside events or words. Sometimes, our brain tricks us into having a very specific memory by making it feel so real. Who would try to go against their ownmemory? It’s must be true since it is coming from us? Well sometimes this isn’t the case. Despite scientists not understanding the entirety of it, there is a lot of research behind this phenomenon. This text will be essential in my research paper because it explains the background of a false memory while providing core examples. My popular source will connect to this text by providing a real life example related to the examples provided in this text.

Popular Source: New York Times 

Tolchinsky, Debra. “Contaminated Memories.” The New York Times, 25 June 2019,www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/opinion/memory.html?searchResultPosition=1. 

Summary: This text is a first person text and it goes into detail about how someone misidentified their assailant. This has to do with many outside factors, but it also goes hand in hand with false memory. I wanted to present a real life case to be able to show to the class how this is something that happens to many people and how it can have a huge affect. This also offers a different perspective to the audience because it is not just scientific. Overall, this text offers a really cool story of how someone got another person mistakenly locked up because of their false memory.

Scholarly Source

Ost, James, et al. “False Memory ≠ False Memory: DRM Errors Are Unrelated to the Misinformation Effect.” PloS One, vol. 8, no. 4, 2013, pp. e57939–e57939,https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057939.

Summary: Diving into how misinformation may cause one to have a false memory, this article goes in hand in hand with my popular source. We as humans, tend to make mistakes and we falsely remember certain memories due to misleading words. For example, you lose your keys and someone says you took them, even when you didn’t, you will immediately create this memory and run with it. Having various examples to show the audience is essential because itestablishes credibility. Furthermore, this source goes all the way back to the first one where the background of a false memory is discussed. It even goes as deep as explaining a similar exampleto the ones I will be providing in my research paper.