False Memories About Food Can Lead to Food Avoidance

Bernstein, Daniel M.; Laney, Cara; Morris, Erin K.; Loftus, Elizabeth F.

doi:10.1521/soco.23.1.11.59195

Cited by 80 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…I was 100% clear!"). Whereas Wade and colleagues' false evidence actually depicted subjects performing the fictional act Nash & Wade, 2009;Wade et al, 2002), and other authors have used explicit and affirmative verbal feedback as evidence (Bernstein et al, 2005b;Desjardins & Scoboria, 2007), the false evidence in the present study was less explicit. Indeed, subjects neither saw themselves perform the critical actions, nor did they receive a verbal suggestion.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 65%

Digitally manipulating memory: Effects of doctored videos and imagination in distorting beliefs and memories

2009

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In prior research on false autobiographical beliefs and memories, subjects have been asked to imagine fictional events and they have been exposed to false evidence that indicates the fictional events occurred. But what are the relative contributions of imagination and false evidence toward false belief and memory construction? Subjects observed and copied various simple actions, then viewed doctored videos that suggested they had performed extra actions, and they imagined performing some of those and some other actions. Subjects returned two weeks later for a memory test. False evidence or imagination alone was often sufficient to cause belief and memory distortions; the two techniques in combination appeared to have additive or even superadditive effects. The results bear on the mechanisms underlying false beliefs and memories, and we propose legal and clinical applications of these findings

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 65%

Digitally manipulating memory: Effects of doctored videos and imagination in distorting beliefs and memories

2009

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“…In terms of repercussions, we also found that those who believed the false suggestion (the believers, who comprised Ϸ30% of subjects) later avoided the critical food. By avoid, we mean that they told us that they were less inclined to want to eat the food at a party, and, more generally, they told us that they enjoyed the food less (8). These findings were among the first to suggest that false food memories can be created, and that those false memories might have behavioral consequences.…”

Section: The Consequences Of False Beliefmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We falsely told experimental subjects that, as children, they had become ill after eating a certain food. We accomplished this in one study by specifically suggesting to some subjects that they had become ill after eating dill pickles and to other subjects that they had become ill after eating hard-boiled eggs (8).…”

Section: The Consequences Of False Beliefmentioning

confidence: 99%

False beliefs about fattening foods can have healthy consequences

Bernstein

Laney

Morris

et al. 2005

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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We suggested to 228 subjects in two experiments that, as children, they had had negative experiences with a fattening food. An additional 107 subjects received no such suggestion and served as controls. In Experiment 1, a minority of subjects came to believe that they had felt ill after eating strawberry ice cream as children, and these subjects were more likely to indicate not wanting to eat strawberry ice cream now. In contrast, we were unable to obtain these effects when the critical item was a more commonly eaten treat (chocolate chip cookie). In Experiment 2, we replicated and extended the strawberry ice cream results. Two different ways of processing the false suggestion succeeded in planting the false belief and producing avoidance of the food. These findings show that it is possible to convince people that, as children, they experienced a negative event involving a fattening food and that this false belief results in avoidance of that food in adulthood. More broadly, these results indicate that we can, through suggestion, manipulate nutritional selection and possibly even improve health.false memory ͉ nutritional selection ͉ food preferences ͉ suggestion W hat if your first taste of a fattening food, like strawberry ice cream, had caused queasiness? Might you avoid strawberry ice cream now? Although we cannot change the past, we can change how people remember the past. The present work shows how changing memory also can change behavior.

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“…she asked. Using the forced feedback technique, Loftus first attempted to make subjects believe they had become sick from eating either hard-boiled eggs or dill pickles (9). After these suggestions were planted, the subjects were asked to imagine being hungry at an outdoor barbecue and to pick which foods on the picnic table they wanted to eat.…”

Section: Power Of Strawberry Ice Creammentioning

confidence: 99%

Profile of Elizabeth F. Loftus

Zagorski¹

2005

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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False Memories About Food Can Lead to Food Avoidance

Cited by 80 publications

References 27 publications

Digitally manipulating memory: Effects of doctored videos and imagination in distorting beliefs and memories

Digitally manipulating memory: Effects of doctored videos and imagination in distorting beliefs and memories

False beliefs about fattening foods can have healthy consequences

Profile of Elizabeth F. Loftus

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