The Brain Holds on to False Facts, Even After They Have Been Retracted
After people realize the facts have been fudged, they do their best to set the record straight: judges tell juries to forget misleading testimony; newspapers publish errata. But even explicit warnings to ignore misinformation cannot erase the damage done, according to a new study from the University of Western Australia.
Psychologists asked college students to read an account of an accident involving a busload of elderly passengers. The students were then told that, actually, those on the bus were not elderly. For some students, the information ended there. Others were told the bus had in fact been transporting a college hockey team. And still others were warned about what psychologists call the continued influence of misinformation—that people tend to have a hard time ignoring what they first heard, even if they know it is wrong—and that they should be extra vigilant about getting the story straight.
Students who had been warned about misinformation or given the alternative story were less likely than control subjects to make inferences using the old information later—but they still erred sometimes, agreeing with statements such as “the passengers found it difficult to exit the bus because they were frail.”
This result shows that “even if you understand, remember and believe the retractions, this misinformation will still affect your inferences,” says Western Australia psychologist Ullrich Ecker, an author of the study. Our memory is constantly connecting new facts to old and tying different aspects of a situation together, so that we may still unconsciously draw on facts we know to be wrong to make decisions later. “Memory has evolved to be both stable and flexible,” Ecker says, “but that also has a downside.” [For more on how memory relies on connections and makes inferences, see “Making Connections,” by Anthony J. Greene;Scientific American Mind, July/August 2010.]
After reading this highly interesting article, I couldn't help but apply the information to children who have been victims of Parental Alienation and wonder if those children can ever truly heal from the misinformation that has been told to them about the target parent by the alienating parent.
From my experience, it is incredibly difficult for a child to be torn between the misinformation they are given by the alienating parent concerning the target parent, and the reality they experience while in the care of the target parent. I have witnessed the destruction it does to a child, mentally, firsthand. The child's trust in not only the target parent, but also the alienating parent, is shattered. The child is fed negative, misinformation about the target parent on a constant basis, and everything the child does with the target parent is twisted into something negative, and met with disapproval from the alienating parent. The deterioration of trust starts with the target parent because the child is being given the misinformation from a person/people he/she loves and trusts, and the child either believes the misinformation, despite the child's reality contradicting the misinformation, or participates as a coping or survival method. The deterioration of trust continues to the alienating parent because the alienating parent continues to 'force' the child to visit the target parent, who they have led the child to believe is bad. The child is caught in a whirlwind of contradictions, and that whirlwind becomes his/her life.
We also know that brainwashing a child and implanting false memories into a child's mind are entirely possible. In cases of implanted, false memories of abuse, the memories and feelings about the abuse are very real to the child, even though the incident or incidents never really happened. If the child is told that the false, alleged abuse is false information and a false memory, and the child accepts and understands that, what happens next? Would the child be able to prevent the misinformation from determining how he/she reacts toward the target parent, or will those feelings associated with implanted memories and misinformation always be strong enough to affect the child's ability to form or maintain a strong bond with the target parent?
This is a very perplexing and disturbing psychological issue when it comes to battling PAS. I am going to email Dr. Warshak to see if I can get further insight on this issue, and will update the post once I get a response.
From my experience, it is incredibly difficult for a child to be torn between the misinformation they are given by the alienating parent concerning the target parent, and the reality they experience while in the care of the target parent. I have witnessed the destruction it does to a child, mentally, firsthand. The child's trust in not only the target parent, but also the alienating parent, is shattered. The child is fed negative, misinformation about the target parent on a constant basis, and everything the child does with the target parent is twisted into something negative, and met with disapproval from the alienating parent. The deterioration of trust starts with the target parent because the child is being given the misinformation from a person/people he/she loves and trusts, and the child either believes the misinformation, despite the child's reality contradicting the misinformation, or participates as a coping or survival method. The deterioration of trust continues to the alienating parent because the alienating parent continues to 'force' the child to visit the target parent, who they have led the child to believe is bad. The child is caught in a whirlwind of contradictions, and that whirlwind becomes his/her life.
We also know that brainwashing a child and implanting false memories into a child's mind are entirely possible. In cases of implanted, false memories of abuse, the memories and feelings about the abuse are very real to the child, even though the incident or incidents never really happened. If the child is told that the false, alleged abuse is false information and a false memory, and the child accepts and understands that, what happens next? Would the child be able to prevent the misinformation from determining how he/she reacts toward the target parent, or will those feelings associated with implanted memories and misinformation always be strong enough to affect the child's ability to form or maintain a strong bond with the target parent?
This is a very perplexing and disturbing psychological issue when it comes to battling PAS. I am going to email Dr. Warshak to see if I can get further insight on this issue, and will update the post once I get a response.
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