“In the specific case of the use of the term “false memory” to describe errors in details in laboratory tasks (e.g., in word-learning tasks), the media and public are set up all too easily to interpret such research as relevant to “false memories” of abuse because the term is used in the public domain to refer to contested memories of abuse. Because the term “false memory” is inextricably tied in the public to a social movement that questions the veracity of memories for childhood sexual abuse, the use of the term in scientific research that evaluates memory errors for details (not whole events) must be evaluated in this light." From: What's in a Name for Memory Errors? Implications and Ethical Issues Arising From the Use of the Term “False Memory” for Errors in Memory for Details, Journal: Ethics & Behavior 14(3) pages 201-233, 2004” MediaMemoryTraumaDenialChild AbuseBiasSexual AbuseRapeChild Sexual AbuseSexual AssaultMisinformationSociety DenialMedia ManipulationChild RapeRepressed MemoriesFalse MemoriesFalse MemoryRecovered MemoriesFalse Memory Syndrome FoundationFmsfDenial Of AbuseMedia Lies Author:Jennifer J. Freyd
“We propose that use of the term “false memory” to describe errors in memory for details directly contributes to removing the social context of abuse from research on memory for trauma. As the term “false memories” has increasingly been used to describe errors in details, the scientific weight of the term has increased. In turn, we see that the term “false memories” is treated as a construct supported by scientific fact, whereas other terms associated with questions about the veracity of abuse memories have been treated as suspect. For example, “recovered memories” often appears in quotations, whereas “false memories” does not (Campbell, 2003).The quotation marks suggest that one term is questioned, whereas the other is accepted as fact. Accepting “false memories” of abuse as fact reflects the subtle assimilation of the term into the cognitive literature, where the term is used increasingly to describe intrusions of semantically related words into lists of related words. The term, rooted in the controversy over the accuracy of abuse memories recalled during psychotherapy (Schacter, 1999), implies generalization of errors in details to memory for abuse—experienced largely by women and children (Campbell, 2003)." from: What's in a Name for Memory Errors? Implications and Ethical Issues Arising From the Use of the Term “False Memory” for Errors in Memory for Details, Journal: Ethics & Behavior” MediaMemoryTraumaDenialChild AbuseBiasSexual AbuseRapeChild Sexual AbuseSexual AssaultMisinformationSociety DenialMedia ManipulationChild RapeRepressed MemoriesFalse MemoriesFalse MemoryRecovered MemoriesFalse Memory Syndrome FoundationFmsfDenial Of AbuseMedia Lies Author:Jennifer J. Freyd
“Despite this documentation for both traumatic amnesia and essentially accurate delayed recall, memory science is often presented as if it supports the view that traumatic amnesia is very unlikely or perhaps impossible and that a great many, perhaps a majority, maybe even all, recovered memories of abuse are false…Yet no research supports such an implication and a great deal of research supports the premise that forgetting sexual abuse is fairly common. and that recovered memories are sometimes essentially true.” Abuse SurvivorsDissociative AmnesiaFalse MemoriesDissociative DisordersRecovered MemoriesTrauma MemoryTraumatic AmnesiaAbuse Memories Author:Jennifer J. Freyd
“Although false memory psychologists point to therapy sessions as the setting in which people commonly determine that they forgot, and then remembered, abuse. Elliott (1997) found that the majority of people who had forgotten a traumatic event and then remembered it identified the trigger as some form of media presentation, such as a film or a television show. Psychotherapy was the least common trigger for remembering trauma." KNOWING AND NOT KNOWING ABOUT TRAUMA: IMPLICATIONS FOR THERAPY” TherapyPsychotherapyRepressed MemoriesRecovered MemoriesTrauma MemoryRepressed MemoryTrauma MemoriesSuggestibility Author:Jennifer J. Freyd