Time to Rewrite Your Autobiography?

A lecture by Professor Kim Wade

Autobiographical memory defines us – it is the foundation on which we build our identity, so we like to believe that our memories are accurate, comprehensive and robust. But over the previous decade, memory scientists have shown that autobiographical memory can be inexact, sketchy and frail. Suggestive techniques can encourage people to generate compelling memories of wholly false events. These illusory memories are often held with great confidence, emotion, clarity and vividness – but they are not real. In this talk, Dr Kimberley Wade will review research showing that fabricated evidence – a form of suggestion – can not only alter memory, but also modify behaviour.

Biography
In 2004, Kimberley Wade completed her PhD on the development of false childhood memories at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. She worked under the guidance of Dr Maryanne Garry, and since then she has conducted research with colleagues in six different countries into why and how people come to believe in and remember events that never happened. Kimberley is particularly interested in forensic applications of memory distortions. She is currently Assistant Professor of Psychology and Deputy Director of the Centre for Memory Studies at the University of Warwick.

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