Convincing people of fake memories is surprisingly easy

WARWICK, England, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Memory is fallible and fragile. And as a team of scientists from the University of Warwick have helped prove, it is also surprisingly easy to manipulate.

More than 50 percent of participants in several 'memory implantation' studies recalled false memories as authentic. They came to incorporate fabricated events into their personal histories.

Researchers at Warwick probed the processes and results of several memory implantation studies in what's called a meta-analysis. The combined studies comprised more than 400 participants, all of whom had fictitious autobiographical events suggested to them in conversations and interactions with researchers. The false memories included taking a hot air balloon ride as a child, causing a scene at a family wedding and pulling a prank on a high school teacher.

According to Warwick researchers, 30 percent of the participants accepted the validity of the false memory, recalled it as if it was authentically experienced, expanded on the happenings of the event and shared imagery connected to the memory. Another 23 percent inherited the planted memory with less enthusiasm, but still showed signs that they accepted it as an authentic memory. They agreed it was something that actually happened.

The findings, detailed in the journal Memory, highlight the vulnerability of processes which rely heavily of memory, including forensic investigations, legal proceedings and therapy sessions. More broadly, the research presents the possibility of widespread delusion inspired by misinformation -- like fake news propagated across social media platforms.

"The finding that a large portion of people are prone to developing false beliefs is important," Kimberley Wade, a psychologist at Warwick, said in a news release. "We know from other research that distorted beliefs can influence people's behaviors, intentions and attitudes."