In Scottish Law, witnesses are NOT PERMITTED to hear the testimony of other witnesses to prevent contamination of testimony. This has been the case for HUNDREDS OF YEARS.

When I was in college I did a project for my psychology class, and the results of my project even surprised and shocked me! With my professor's permission, I did my project during one of our classes. For my project, at approximately halfway through the one hour class, I had a friend of mine suddenly, and quite aggressively, run into the room and "steal" my purse that I had placed on my desk, which was located in the front row of the classroom. And, although my friend didn't say anything as she aggressively grabbed my purse and then quickly turned around and made her escape out of the same door she had just entered, I yelled just one word-"HEY!!!!!" Well, immediately after my friend grabbed my purse and ran out the door, I handed a short one page questionnaire to every student (approx. 50 students) in the classroom that day. Most of the questions were about the physical description of the "thief". And, the rest of the questions focused on what they felt they saw happen. The answers that pertained to the physical description of my friend varied dramatically! My friend was as follows: 1. Gender--female 2. Height--5'7" 3. Weight--160 pounds 4. Clothes--She was wearing a black "hoodie", and blue jeans 5. She had shoulder length hair that was a very dark brown, and it could be seen quite well, despite the fact that she had pulled the hat of the hoodie up onto her head. Most of the students said that she was a "he", who was anywhere from 5 feet tall to over 6 feet. She was said to weigh somewhere around 120 pounds to 200 pounds. She was also described as having red, dark blonde and even black color hair. And, with regards to what they described she was wearing, the answers once again were as varied as the answers in all of the previous questions. Oh, and when asked if they heard any sounds or words spoken during this incident, some stated that nothing was said, while others said they had "clearly" heard the "thief yell something to me. So, after viewing all of the data I had garnered from my "Eyewitness" project, I came to the only conclusion that could be drawn from the overall results of my project--without a doubt, eyewitness accounts were unreliable and should never be accepted as any real type of "evidence" in a criminal trial. And, given those results, I truly have to wonder how many innocent people have been to, or are currently in prison based on any degree of "eyewitness accounts"...

This is why I laugh when people say, "Well, if you didn't do it, then you don't have anything to worry about." I'm sorry, but there have simply been too many miscarriages of justice for me to believe that for a second.

Titus' story is so sad... I feel horrible for what happened to him and his family... He was gonna probably have a long and happy life with his wife and family, but the horribly broken justice system tore that life from him and destroyed his life to the point of death... :(

I went to one of those "EST" like events when I was about 20. They had us recall childhood trauma. I recalled my sister almost dying in the hospital when she was an infant. I could even remember waiting in the hospital waiting room crying. Maybe 10 years later was talking about childhood and mentioned this to my father and sister. There was no such event. My sister had only been to the hospital for routine problems. I'd lived with a false memory for 10 years. I have other false memories in my head that I now know are false. And yet they are memories. It's truly bizarre.

who else here for their psychology homework ?

Such a humanist. This lady is a rare spirit indeed. I hope she stays strong. Elisabeth I love and admire your work and dedication. And at the same time am appalled and disgusted by the in/justice system. The number of people that have been unjustly incarcerated pales when you think about those that were legally murdered for committing crimes they never did. So it is not an exaggeration to say you are a real saviour to so many. Thank you on their behalf.

I am now haunted by this vague feeling that as a child I saw Elizabeth Loftus in a mall, and she turned into a wolf and chased me until I fell into a fountain and nearly drowned. Anyone else have this feeling?

I am 60 years of age. About 10 years ago I started to mistrust my memory. Not things like appointments, when I lost my keys, but experiences that I think happened to me, how my memories changed. I have seen other things like this and am not surprised at all. Years ago, my wife and I both witnessed a motorbike accident. Our memories different in critical matters. We need to be VERY careful. I hear. 'I remember such and such a thing happening vividly'. I am often sceptical

This reminds me of a controversy that was just in the media. I wish I could remember what it was...

Her "research" also proves then: It is also very easy to convince victims of crime and abuse, that the abuse was consensual, or that it was the fault of the victim. An abuser or criminal has EVERYTHING to lose, if the victim is believed. Every single abuser/criminal ever, benefits from planting DOUBT, shame and blame into their victim's minds. And they attempt to do so.

Why would anyone dislike this video? This is what happens to us on a daily basis, if we don't understand that our memeory is susceptible to error, as well as manipulation.

eyewitness testimony shouldn't even be admissible in court. People who claim that they know exactly what they saw beyond a doubt, usually do not know what they saw because someone who actually remembered would have at least a few doubts. And people who have been raped are more prone to creating false memories because false memories serve to defend us from the horror of the unknown. If you can put a face on the abuser, it feels better than not knowing what the abuser looked like.

I love how she is passionate about her line of work and it is very evident in her presentation.

My experience , growing up in a dysfunctional home, where denial of truth of the environment and feelings was norm. Later as an adult When i confronted my parents about the abuse, they had a tendency to misremember and say it didn't happen... well it did and I'm spending my time healing and relearning and creating a healthy me, regardless if they had the memory...so sometimes people purposely forget but behavior of dysfunction eeks out in relationship and actions regardless of memory..

I have noticed - even just in my own memories - that our memories are built out of pieces. When I think back to memories as a child, when I see my brothers, I see them as they are now, and hear the voices they have now, not that they had as children. Our mind stores bits of memories and when they are called up they are assembled like building a whole new object from a set of blueprints. It is not a perfect replica every time, it is just following a blueprint. It is not hard to expand this to see that in truth those memories are built with several layers of blueprints. If one detail changes, the other blueprints that depend on that detail will change. Memory becomes easily corruptible if one thing is changed. I have had dreams where I was back at the house I grew up in; a house I lived in for more then twenty years of my life. But my dream, being a dream, built the house wrong and showed it inaccurately. But yet now, when I try to think of that house, I see the details as they appeared in the dream. I can just barely see enough to understand that the memory is wrong, and if I work very hard I can see specific details that I know were not correct. But my mind still builds the false memory because I can see that one clearer than the true memory.

As I kid I had a friend who I would ask "Hey, do you remember when [x] happened?" And [x] would be an event changed by erroneous details, or even a completely fabricated event. In many cases he would brighten up and remember [x], often quite vividly. This was obviously much more likely to happen when it was a real event with fudged details, but... still. It instilled in me a distrust in human memory. I did wonder if he was actually remembering these false events or just claiming he did so as to better fit in, but over the years I've seen other people try this trick on me and others. Either your mind latches onto [x] and assembles a memory out of other unrelated memories, or you pretend you remember it because you feel it's expected to, or (much less often) you call them on their bullshit. But it's a safe stunt to pull, generally. Keep an eye out for it.

We need more people like this out spreading this message. I am dealing with this on 2 fronts right now and it totally sucks. If you suspect a memory issues with friends or spouse, first have yourself checked out (which is what i did) and if it appears you are not the problem do not hesitate telling your friends or family that they may have issues and to get checked out. Executive function is nothing to mess around with.

Elizabeth Loftus is our modern day Galileo Galilei, Giordano Bruno, and Baruch Spinoza. I can't think of greater examples of courage and integrity. Thanks very much. It was fascinating and uplifting.

Once I was looking for my neckless everywhere and couldn’t find it. I went through everything, trying to remember when did I hold it last in my hand, and I was trying to picture the situation when I put it away. Heaps of different ideas crossed my mind, the entire content of my wardrobe was thrown in a pile at the middle of the room... Every corner checked... Finally, I totally convinced myself, that I took it off on my way back home about a month ago, and put it in the inside packet of a jacket of mine which I gave away to charity the other day. I could literally remember myself doing it... but obviously I didn’t, because it was in the drawer at my workplace.... It is indeed scary what our brains are capable of doing.

Wow! Fantastic talk. We need more scientists like this in the field of psychology. What a brave powerhouse.

I really admire this very special professor, Elizabeth Loftus, for her incredible curiosity and perseverance. I don't think "false memory" will cater to the majority's interest or appreciation, but she still hangs in there. Way to go! A 100% real scientist!

This is the reason I love video and photo recording. We can relive the experiences we may have forgotten or have become ambiguous in our minds.

This was fascinating! I love learning about memory. I know that my memories change. I've noticed old sparse memories getting filled in when I learn more details, or being sure of a memory only to have it thrown completely into doubt when someone else presents a conflicting memory.

I have memories that are my own, meaning that I know they are mine because I was alone and no one convinced me of the activity or event. Some of my memories are the kind of memories that no one would corroborate because of the embarrassment it would cause them. I also have "memories" of things that were put there by people who told me the story over and over and I would not know about it without the input of others.

We cannot reliably distinguish false memories. We need independent corroboration.

I was in a holdup when I was 15 and while we were waiting for the police, the other worker (who interacted with the guy) and I pieced together what we had noticed about him. I was truly embarrassed by how much I couldn't remember or remembered incorrectly.

Her opening story about the guy is so sad :(

Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus is a well-known expert in false memories. I have a 1981 textbook she co-wrote in college psychology.

I left a comment on a teacher at a previous school I went to and the police got in touch with me because this particular teacher was being accused of sexual assault by another former pupil. The police were extremely careful in not giving me leading questions. When I read in the press what this teacher was accused of I had two very significant memories of the teacher however this was only triggered by what I had read about the case. So I have seen first hand how unreliable memory is.

Every thinking person should see this talk & understand the concept of false memory

Absolutely brilliant. Faulty memory or memory/stories shaped/dictated/suggested by police interview's leading question ("is this the person...?") can lead to devastating consequences for the defendant. "Suggestive information" can warp justice. Everyone should watch this.

This video has good information. I dissagree with implanting traumatic false memories in people as an experiment. Especially the possession one. Why would they use such memories that can mess a person up for an experiment? Yet later say it also works with good memories.

This is very powerful, the mind is tricking us by what ever reason. I wonder if there is a connection with the feelings that are involved? The feelings keeping the story's a live and change the story's the way to protect the core feeling of the event. When you change the feelings the story changes too.

Great talk which proves that nobody is errorless and calls us to be more human. I will remember it.

It's kind of comforting to me that my memory isn't actually bad, and it's probably okay that I don't remember a lot of the faces I see, even the people I talk to.

So it's possible to shift my negative thoughts that triggered due to a event a few years back which inherently turned into a habit of self put down into positive thoughts by being induced to believe that something else occurred? I need a psychiatrist or therapist....this is gold... I'm learning this in my first year of English @ junior college

Why isn't this video being spread far and wide?

I read a story at one point and I loved it completely. I still even gushed about how well developed my favourite scene was. Later on, I reread the story (which was just as I remembered) and once I reached my favourite scene I found out it was nothing like I remembered. The scene didn't have any substance and made no sense. Then I remembered something else; I hated that one scene so much that I rewrote it in my head. I changed it to fit the narrative better and provide some much needed closure. I'd previously spent a lot of time thinking about how that one scene could've been better that when recalling the story I thought the scene actually happened.

You, Ma'am, are a hero, and more needed now than ever!

What a brilliant talk! I listen to a Podcast called "The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe" and they often talk about these issues (faulty memory and scientists being sued to stop them from speaking out). Two of the biggest problems facing us. The perversion of truth (mostly inadvertently but sometimes intentionally) and the suppression of truth. Keep on Speaking out, Dr. Loftus and SGU!

I'm sorry, but the obesity bit was a little insane. Billions of people outside of America, including my own parents, somehow managed to save their kids from obesity and diabetes without using deranged mind games. It's really not that hard.

I know there are people with photographic memories but in these kinds of situations you need to be paying full attention and usually people don’t have enough time to process exactly what is happening for their testimony to be deemed reliable. I feel really sad for Titus...his life was destroyed because of false eye-witness testimonies, but goodness knows how many other lives have been ruined due to the same circumstance. I’m grateful to Elizabeth Loftus for persevering with her work in this field, despite people trying to sue her!! I guess if you’re convinced something awful has happened to you during or as a consequence of therapy (even though it really didn’t) then being disbelieved must feel terrible and therapists are surely accountable, but yeah, it’s definitely a grey area!

What an incredible, brave, intelligent woman! She's exactly the kind of woman who some people would accuse of being too "ambitious," "aggressive," or "unpleasant." But look at what she's accomplished and the information she's added to humanity's collective knowledge!

Brilliant woman. Brilliant presentation.

This woman has done a great service to the world with her research. Thank you, Ms. Loftus.

Shouldn't this video be getting more views now?

What a wonderful realisation for anybody who feels unhappy for some reason(s)! We CAN CHOOSE what we (want to) BELIEVE (e.g. because it's good for us and for other people), we can reprogram our memory. Unhappy childhood can be cured.

14:12 -- Man, she is the real life version of Leo DiCaprio in INCEPTION, "implanting false memories"... DUUUUHNNN DUUUUUUHNN DUUUUHNNN DUUUUUUHNN

This really makes me think about how many of my childhood memories are actually accurate..

So this is why so many people (me included) thought that Walkers Cheese and Onion crisps used to be in a green packet not a blue one.

brilliant work and so morally right. She sounds out of breathe bless her.

This makes me feel like I have a lot of false memories from my childhood.

I hope that Mrs. Loftus is listened to. I positively know a person who has been to therapists who (willingly or by accident) implanted her false memory - she remembers events that by proof never have taken place. I can tell how unpleasant it is when in severe points subjective memory is altered.

Elizabeth Loftus i'm your biggest fan, first time i read about you in my general psychology book i never stopped quoting you to my friends. they hate you but i love you.seeing this ted in the racommanded made me incredibly happy thank you

I enjoy your work. I have for the past 29 years done many backpacking/hiking trips 5-6 times a year with two dear friends. More than once two of us will be sharing a poignant memory of a particular event or trip when the other one will say, “Hey! Are you sure you are not collaging from trip x, y or z?” or “ I have no idea what you guys are talking about!”. All humor aside, I am grateful for the work you do and am sorry for all the flak a forward thinker like yourself has to endure.

I'd like to see a similar study on the relationships between nostalgia and pessimistic attitudes. Sometimes when I look back on experiences, what I feel depends on my current mood or attitude. I might look back at a past relationship or experience with a substance, forgetting either the good parts or the bad parts depending on how I'm feeling at the time. I wonder if there is a correlation.

you can read the LA Times article “Did Daddy Really Do It?” on the case of Marilyn Van Derbur for an alternative perspective on this, worth nothing how many times Loftus has been an expert witness for abusers and that she gave presumably this exact talk at TEDxCIA

I wish she would've spoken about the impact her work has on discrediting genuine victims of sexual violence. In case people here don't know, this woman used her theory during multiple rape and sexual assault trials, being called by the defense of Harvey Weinstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Michael Jackson, Ted Bundy and many more as a witness to explain her theory and cast doubt on the accusations.

Admittedly, I’m a little confused. Didn’t you say he was at a restaurant with his fiancé when this rape occurred? Was there no receipt, from him or the restaurant’s records, nor a witness who saw him? It seems there would be someone to back up his story, doesn’t it?

This is incredibly eye opening.

This study is so cool! we looked at it during my IB psychology class and ill hopefully be able to use it later on. Thanks Elizabeth :)

Some memories aren't completely false. Sometimes they just fill in the gaps. Example: I once fainted. Half my friends said "you eyes rolled to the back of your head, and you swallowed your tongue. The other half of my friends said "your eyes were darting side to side, and you were gasping for air while shrieking." I told my neurologist. He said "you can't swallow your tongue, but it can block the airway near your throat. It sounds like you were taking in very deep breaths. Sometimes when a person suddenly takes in a very deep breath, it can sound like a high pitch scream. Your eyes might have been flickering. That's when the eyeballs go back a bit, and the eyelids blink fast." I don't know what happened. But my throat was irritated, and my eye sockets had a dull pain. I have to fill in the gaps of what happened to me. I choose the doctor's Therory.

“The idea put forth by Elizabeth Loftus and other FMSF supporters that repressed memories are a kooky made-up phenomenon too out-there to be real. In Loftus’s book, The Myth of Repressed Memory, she writes: “I don’t question the fact that memories can come back spontaneously, that details can be forgotten, or even that memories of abuse can be triggered by various cues many years later.” Based on well-known literature by both trauma experts and survivors, the above is a fairly sound description of repressed memory. It’s hard to understand, then, Loftus’s insistence that repressed memory is a myth. That is because Loftus’s definition of repressed memory is not derived from trauma experts or survivors, but rather from the population that she is steeped in: Alleged perpetrators. The accounts given to Loftus, as detailed in her book, describe repressed abuse memories as shocking, bizarre, out of sync with reality, delusional and entirely baseless - according to the accused. Allowing alleged incest perpetrators to define repressed memory is like allowing Harvey Weinstein to define sexual trauma. Abusers have been calling their victims crazy since the dawn of time. Loftus lent authority to that diagnosis.”

This woman is a courageous defender of truth. lots of love!

I think I have OCD and I think my mind makes up stuff that never happened in the past making some memories worse than they actually were, or making up memories completely.

to quote Jim Hopper, PhD, of Harvard Medical School on Loftus: You may have heard of Dr. Loftus, and seen her quoted approvingly and uncritically in the popular media. No doubt, as reported in the media, she has prevented some wrongly accused people from being unjustly convicted. She has also played a valuable role by bringing attention and accountability to bear on some irresponsible practices by some incompetent therapists. Yet Dr. Loftus has also claimed that recovered memory is a ‘myth,’ and that the majority of such memories are false and implanted by therapists. Unfortunately, many reporters and journalists have failed to critically evaluate her claims. Nor have they addressed three crucial facts about her work: Loftus herself conducted and published a study in which nearly one in five women who reported childhood sexual abuse also reported completely forgetting the abuse for some period of time and recovering the memory of it later. Loftus misrepresented the facts of a legal case in a scholarly paper and, after finally apologizing to the victim of her misrepresentations, continued to promote the article with falsehoods. (See Consider the Evidence for Elizabeth Loftus’ Scholarship and Accuracy, by Jennifer Hoult, whose case Loftus misrepresented.) Loftus was aware that those who study traumatic memory had by the early 1990s, based on a great deal of research and clinical experience, used the construct of dissociation to account for the majority of recovered memories. However, she continued to focus on and attack ‘repression’ and ‘repressed memories,’ which has the effect of confusing and misleading many people. www.jimhopper.com/child-abuse/recovered-memories/scientific-research/#elizabeth-loftus

Why is it always traumatizing things scientists do to children for experiments? Instead of planting false memories of a child getting bit by a dog or almost drowning, could they not have given them joyful false memories? Something like went to Disney Land four times and met all Mickey Mouse characters, or first place in a t-ball tournament.. As long as they remember the false event then it works, it doesn't always have to end with children needing years of therapy.

This was absolutely worth my time! I agree in every matter. But I would like to see some investigation about planting *happy* false memories. I suspect that happy memories are more difficult to plant, since people overrate their misery and sadness, and happy moments are usually just forgotten. Anyway, I like this trend of research very much! Hope to work with it sometime! :)

Memory is such an amazing and vast field of study. You go girl! 📖

So true, we are naturally social beings, moreover when we've experienced something. Understandably, we crave for help, protection and group acknowledgement. This makes us susceptible to suggestions and find comfort when others chime in. Worst, the more people who want to help, the more convulted memory turns.

I was given a self-help book years ago which suggested that, even if you only think you might have been abused, you certainly were. You should indulge that belief, dive into it, bring up all the repressed memories which you must have. If you don't find any, dive deeper until you do. No matter that everyone around you says it didn't happen and there's no evidence for it, you have to believe you're a victim of abuse or your life won't improve. The whole concept terrified me.

Did she win the court case after and was the accused mother actually innocent?

In Canada a radio host won a case of being falsely accused of sexual abuse by two women,, and even it has been proved that the women colluded against him and lied he lost his job and reputation.

Also… falsely accused people have every right to sue for civil damages. There will be permanent damage done to your income, reputation and prospects, and even if you’re formally exonerated you still suffer social consequences and fear/stigma of having been accused

Dealing with a loved one currently in jail convicted falsely and first-hand knowledge revealing tons of people are convicted by our judicial system or forced to sign guilty pleas for things never committed, this makes my heart heavy, very heavy. So many innocent lives are damaged or destroyed, and regular people are unaware.

If you’re not here for psychology, you’re wrong

I believe what she did is good work. However I found it very inconsistent when she discussed about repercussion of planting false memories. When defending her own experiment technique she said 'it's temporary discomfort that some of the subjects might experience...' and later said there is a long lasting repercussion effect from false negative memories. If it's her value that those scientific studies out-weigh the negative utility caused by the study, I'm perfectly fine with that. However I don't like how her choice of words decreased perceived damage by planting false memories as a study method.

The TED audience should be advised that Dr. Loftus' account of the lawsuit filed against her in 2003 is neither a full description of her activities, not an accurate description of the resolution of the case. A discussion of Taus v. Loftus by seven authors, including the plaintiff, can be found online at the "Journal of Interpersonal Violence" website.

The mind is a powerful thing. Not just with memory, but beliefs. Things become self fulfilling prophecies.

Who has the expertise to tell me that my own memories are false?

Who else is watching this for their psychology class?

One day when I was visiting my mother, she was helping me with my hair real quick(it was long during this time) and she said i had a white hair spot. She took a picture and showed me it. I asked her to send it to me but she never did. Every time I asked about it, she said that never happened but she won't even look on her phone to see. I am dead positive that this happened but she says it didn't. I think it's just crazy if I imagined the whole thing.

People who know me well, if they are truthful (I am quite selective of whom I call "Friend") will ALL give me this one benefit - I give credit where it is due - and for years that could swing in diametrically opposed - Both ways, to get to the point. Recently I find myself often critical rather than complimentary of the actions of my fellow humans - actions of course which to me were in some way remarkable. THIS is NOT resulting from any cynical attitude nor some misconstructed egotistical conceit, but rather, I think, the idea that good deeds, regardless of magnitude, stand up for themselves and do not require as much attention as those which are reprehensible. THIS woman, E. Loftus - (Bless Her) reminds me, not fast enough that I am so inaccurate in my presumption. Not the leastwise is the fact that it is coinciding with a similar event I experienced just 3 days ago prior to my writing this post. No I was not accused of raping, killing, or worse... I was sitting in a city park with 2 good friends - who know well what my faults are - I know them too, and I am accepting of them. I AIM to be a good person. Yes I sometimes screw up, and when I do - I have what I think is good reason...I will admit when I am wrong - IF I feel so in my CORE. ...So when a woman whom I have NEVER met before walking her dog, approached us and began a friendly discourse - suddenly, with no provocation, claimed that she had met me last week when I seriously insulted her, by telling her that her cigarette smoking was an offence to the air decent people breathe...(Triggered by my lighting up one...) ...She became quite irate, and in spite of my assurance that what she was saying was virtually impossible in my nature, nor my Memory - which has not yet malfunctioned as described in this vid... - that she had me confused with someone else, and even the confirmation of my friends, who know me well - and the fact that this woman is NEW to the neighbourhood, and talks to everyone she meets (Approx 55 yo - possibly drinks a lot, from my guess) Was all in vain. She began shouting at me CERTAIN of her conviction that I was her offender - Her son died of lung cancer, being a main fortification of her absolute conviction of MY guilt...My feeling and point here is that there is a SERIOUS flaw, in the way most people evaluate reality and the world in which we live. This could happen to ANYONE at ANY time, for almost ANY REASON. It is REASON which is floundering, and giving way to IRRATIONAL thought paradigms, when our current society can LEAST afford to lose it. Particularly when irrationality is sanctioned yet unacceptable component of our FORENSIC process(Dis) ease...

Mandela Effect is finally solved. Our memories alter our reality. when our memory changes so does our reality. That is why it feels like reality changed it is because we ourselves are being changed. This explains why islands and land marks, geography changes, it is because it changes in our minds. This means I don't have to worry about realities merging anymore, it is because nothing has changed to begin with.

When she said about asparagus I knew she was up to no good. Here's my advice to parents; in a world so full of manipulative deceit, you owe to your children to do the best you can to tell them the truth so they are more able to make their own informed decisions in life as the individuals they are.

It was great to say at the end: "Memory - like liberty - is a fragile thing"! Need to remember!)

False Memory implanting is called Marketing 101.

I remember over twenty years ago when I first read an article about this woman and I thought that finally someone was questioning the repressed memory madness that was everywhere in the news then. Loftus is a scientist hero. Her work has kept a lot of people from harm.

I would love to have her ethics board....

What a fabulous lecture. As a former $cientologist who dealt with hearing all sorts of wacky "memories" from Hubbard and followers, this explains a lot.

i found her through Weiten's psychology book chapter about memory and then i recognizes she was also featured in Brain games episode about false memory. trully legend

Excellent food for thought as I head to the courtroom to be a witness.

Her science is not always done very scientifically./ Infact there is now more research in favour of tramatic repressed memory than false memory (which has poor research). The original 'lost in the mall' study was very poorly done. She is not a specialist in traumatic memory repression or in trauma psychotherapy and it is common that we block traumatic events and they can return unexpectedly - triggered by an event, or in places like therapy where you are talking about your childhood. The danger with what she says, is that many real victims of abuse, can be and have been dismissed. What reason would a therapist have for planting false memory, especially such dark memories, in their patients? That doesn't make sense - espeically with numbers she is suggesting. There is so much more science that she doesn't mention and is not really honest in gaps in her own knowledge. She is a clinical psychologist who has never seen patients. Do her studies see how long these 'false memories' she planted in people last for? 1 year? 5 years? etc. Still a lot of unanswered questions/ gaps in the science and a lot of harm to trauma survivors. Elizabeth Loftus and her false memory syndrome has been used in the cases of Harvey Weinstein, OJ Simpson, Bill Crosby etc...I am surprised that TED supported such poor research that most professionals refute. This 'research' supports perpetrators and in fact many of Elizabeth's support from such organisations as the Foundation of False Memory Syndrome (which dissolved in 2019 and for which Elizabeth was on the board) - are actually accused parents. The foundation was set up by accused parents. This in itself says something. There are occasions of false accusations of course, but there can be many reasons for this. This does become evidence that false memory syndrome is everywhere - particulary in CSA, SRA etc.

Very powerful, thank you Elizabeth, good job.

The brain is very complex and so are its outputs like memory. The Psychologist here wanted to stay on topic, but there are several types of memory. The type of memory she is talking about is episodic (of events, a day at the mall). The brain has other memory abilities like procedual (of motor skills). You may not remember they day you learned to button your shirt or tie your shoe, but you can do it. Semantic memory (logical memory - of facts - gravity pulls down) is the hardest to manipulate.

Dr. Loftus should be all over the news right now. This is gold!

Investigative journalism needs to make a tsunami like come back into the publics eye.

My teacher played this in the classroom and had an already very high volume on, and then with this clip where she almost screams, it was the worst 20 minutes of my life. She probably had great thing to say but everyones ears were bleeding and those lucky enough found headphones. We asked the teacher multiple times to lower the volume and she never did.

It's common practice in court to use suggestive information to influence a witnesses mind and recollection of what happened. That is the real crime here in my opinion.