Question

In class I read a list of 13 nouns, like dream, bed, nap, snooze, etc. Many people remembered hearing the word "sleep," even though that wasn't one of the words I read. Their false memories demonstrate:

a. how we place ourselves at the center of events that occur in our lives.
b. how memory is reconstructive rather than an accurate recording of events.
c. the tendency to experience cryptamnesia for auditory stimuli.
d. the hindsight bias that is common in autobiographical memory.

Answer 1

False memories of the word 'sleep' demonstrate the reconstructive nature of memory and the propensity for suggestibility to lead to inaccuracies.

Step-by-step explanation:

The false memories from hearing a list of similarly themed words, such as dream, bed, nap, snooze, demonstrates how memory is reconstructive rather than an accurate recording of events. This is an example of a phenomenon in which people recall hearing or experiencing something that did not actually occur, known as a false memory. This concept reveals the reconstructive nature of memory and how suggestibility can lead to inaccuracies in our recollections. Cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Loftus has extensively researched this topic, highlighting the misinformation effect, where individuals can misremember an event after being exposed to misleading information.