Without independent corroboration, little can be done to tell a false memory from a true one.
Elizabeth LoftusIf we make people believe that before the age of 16 they got sick drinking vodka, they don't want to drink as much vodka.
Elizabeth LoftusWe all have memories that are malleable and susceptible to being contaminated or supplemented in some way.
Elizabeth LoftusWhen we remember something, we're taking bits and pieces of experience - sometimes from different times and places - and bringing it all together to construct what might feel like a recollection but is actually a construction.
Elizabeth LoftusWhen we remember something, we're taking bits and pieces of experience - sometimes from different times and places - and bringing it all together to construct what might feel like a recollection but is actually a construction. The process of calling it into conscious awareness can change it, and now you're storing something that's different. We all do this, for example, by inadvertently adopting a story we've heard.
Elizabeth Loftus