The Invisible Gorilla
Amy Champagne
English 2
March 26, 2014
Illusion of Memory
The Invisible Gorilla
In the book, The Invisible Gorilla, Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons introduce several different illusions and discuss how our intuitions are easily capable of deceiving us. Upon reading this book, I find the second chapter, Illusion of Memory, one of the most interesting ones. In this chapter, it reveals that an individual’s memory is very limited and unreliable. The certainty of one’s recollection does not always guarantee correctness. Chabris and Simmons explain how the majority of people tend to believe that memories are stored forever exactly the way they happened and remember every detail, however, their brain really only stores significant events not every little detail.
The consistency of one’s memory is such of importance especially in the legal system and as a result, it has been the center of extensive research of Elizabeth Loftus, an American cognitive psychologist and expert on human memory (Wikipedia), Throughout her research, she has never studied people who just forget things in general, she has studied people who recall memories that never even actually happened in the first place. She has also determined that these memories can ultimately become a lot more lucid, however, it is likely that the memories start to become distorted and change over a period of time. Her research was associated with eyewitness recollection earning her numerous awards and she even attended numerous court duties as an expert witness. (Bower)
In addition, much of the research presented by Elizabeth Loftus featured the untrustworthiness of memory. That memory was susceptible to suggestion of ideas and the twisting of facts. Furthermore, it paved way to encouraging a more accurate view on the consistency of an observer or eyewitness. Everyone should be encouraged to read this chapter about the illusion of memory thoroughly as one would have the possibility of being involved with
English 2
March 26, 2014
Illusion of Memory
The Invisible Gorilla
In the book, The Invisible Gorilla, Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons introduce several different illusions and discuss how our intuitions are easily capable of deceiving us. Upon reading this book, I find the second chapter, Illusion of Memory, one of the most interesting ones. In this chapter, it reveals that an individual’s memory is very limited and unreliable. The certainty of one’s recollection does not always guarantee correctness. Chabris and Simmons explain how the majority of people tend to believe that memories are stored forever exactly the way they happened and remember every detail, however, their brain really only stores significant events not every little detail.
The consistency of one’s memory is such of importance especially in the legal system and as a result, it has been the center of extensive research of Elizabeth Loftus, an American cognitive psychologist and expert on human memory (Wikipedia), Throughout her research, she has never studied people who just forget things in general, she has studied people who recall memories that never even actually happened in the first place. She has also determined that these memories can ultimately become a lot more lucid, however, it is likely that the memories start to become distorted and change over a period of time. Her research was associated with eyewitness recollection earning her numerous awards and she even attended numerous court duties as an expert witness. (Bower)
In addition, much of the research presented by Elizabeth Loftus featured the untrustworthiness of memory. That memory was susceptible to suggestion of ideas and the twisting of facts. Furthermore, it paved way to encouraging a more accurate view on the consistency of an observer or eyewitness. Everyone should be encouraged to read this chapter about the illusion of memory thoroughly as one would have the possibility of being involved with