"Imaging the Reconstruction of True and False Memories Using Sensory Reactivation and the Misinformation Paradigms"

Recently posted to SSRN:

"Imaging the Reconstruction of True and False Memories Using Sensory Reactivation and the Misinformation Paradigms" 

Learning & Memory, Vol. 17, pp.485-488, 2010
UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2011-08

CRAIG E.L. STARK, University of California, Irvine
YOKO OKADO, Johns Hopkins University
ELIZABETH F. LOFTUS, University of California, Irvine - Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine School of Law
Many current theories of false memories propose that, when we retrieve a memory, we are not reactivating a vertical, fixed representation of a past event, but are rather reactivating incomplete fragments that may be accurate or distorted and may have arisen from other events. By presenting the two phases of the misinformation paradigm in different modalities, we could observe sensory reactivation of the auditory and visual cortex during the retrieval phase. Overall, true and false memories showed similar brain activation, but could be distinguished by this reactivation. This was true only in the early regions of the sensory cortex.