“When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not.” –Mark Twain
Sometimes we clearly remember information that was not in fact true. Have you ever been absolutely sure that you left your keys on a kitchen counter, only to find them in the bedroom? Have you ever been certain that you went to a particular movie with your spouse only to find out it was with a friend? These are called false-memories. They are not fabricated out of thin air. Rather, they often occur due to confusion where an actual memory is misattributed to an incorrect context. False-memories are frequently due to a failure to distinguish the source of the memory.
Most of the time these are innocuous and we can chuckle about our memory problems. But sometimes they become very serious. This is the case with eyewitness testimony. Research has demonstrated repeatedly how false memories can creep in to alter these memories and influence the outcome of a trial. They can also be a major problem in memories of childhood trauma and abuse. It’s now known that children must be very carefully interviewed to make sure that a false memory does not emerge. The consequences of false memories in these cases can be dire.
In order to counter false memories we have to be careful when a memory arises to judge it rigorously to be certain of the source of the memory. Mindfulness training is devoted to accepting things just as they are and not judging them. This would seem to be counter to the need for screening false memories. It is known that meditation can improve memory and in some cases can impair memory. Mindfulness training can make it easier to forget negative things (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/08/forget-the-bad-stuff-with-mindfulness/). So, there is reason to believe that mindfulness training might improve memory or it might make it harder to identify false memories.
In today’s Research News article “Increased False-Memory Susceptibility after Mindfulness Meditation”
Wilson and colleagues attempted to answer whether mindfulness training might improve or impair the detection of false memories. The test was simple. Students viewed a list of words one at a time such as garbage, waste, can, refuse, sewage, bag, junk, rubbish, sweep, scraps, pile, dump, landfill, debris, and litter. Such a list can often induce a false memory of the word trash which is actually not on the list. After mindfulness training the students were nearly twice as likely to report seeing the word trash.
These results suggest that mindfulness training can at time actually be harmful. Inducing judgment-free awareness and acceptance can produce difficulty identifying the source of the memory. Mindfulness training might improve memory by reducing the filters that tend to screen it out. Hence, the same mindfulness training that produces many benefits can also have the unintended negative consequence of increasing false-memory susceptibility.
So, mindfulness provides great benefits but can also produce some problems. It is important to be careful with memory recall after mindfulness training to avoid false memories.
“It is singular how soon we lose the impression of what ceases to be constantly before us. A year impairs, a luster obliterates. There is little distinct left without an effort of memory, then indeed the lights are rekindled for a moment — but who can be sure that the Imagination is not the torch-bearer?” ~Lord Byron
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
3 thoughts on “Meditation is not always a Good Thing”