The Creation of False Memories for High Contrast, Unfamiliar Faces

30823 The Creation of False Memories for High Contrast, Unfamiliar Faces Farishta Sarpas Mentor: Donald Hoffman Memories are not as concrete and accurate as we may believe them to be. By virtue of exposure to misleading misinformation, not only can inaccurate details of a previously experienced event be induced, but an entirely false memory can also be implanted into the minds of unsuspecting participants. The purpose of this study is to examine how susceptible the memory of human faces is to misleading information, and to attempt to actually induce false memories for unfamiliar faces presented under high contrast and dark conditions. In this experiment there were three phases: a study phase (subjects study original 30 faces), an induction phase (internal/external features are manipulated), and a final recognition test (where the correct original 30 faces should be recalled, but in fact are not). This experiment is important because it relates to police lineups; if the external features are recalled more accurately or vividly than the internal features, the chances of the real criminal being caught are reduced, and the chances of an innocent person sharing the same external features as those in the description or composite are increased.