I found the lecture about false memories to be equal parts
interesting and terrifying. The TEDx Talk with Elizabeth Loftus, specifically
the part with eyewitness testimony stood out to me the most. The fact that they
identified 300 convicted people that were later proven to be innocent and 75%
of those convictions were due to eyewitness testimonies is truly awful. Part of
me wonders how many of those faulty testimonies were a result of the biases
held by the various eyewitnesses. I am also curious to see the demographics
data of those who were falsely convicted because of the eyewitness testimonies
to see if there may have been a common pattern as a result of commonly held biases.
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Hi, Andrew! I also thought that false memories were both interesting to think about, but at the same time, concerning because sometimes an individual cannot truly decipher what they recollect and what had been made up or fabricated. Especially in accounts with someone trying to remember facial features during a crime, it is understandable that a victim could not remember what the person attacking them looked like from being in such a traumatic experience. Still, it is horrible that people have a preconceived notion and blame an innocent person, even if it does not remotely resemble the perpetrator. One thing that stuck out to me during this lecture was the idea of people using memory as a recording device. This leads to believing that everything remembered from a person's perspective is factual information, but there are many flaws and biases.
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