The Life Scientific

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The Life Scientific: Julia Shaw on memories that aren't true

Julia Shaw on memories that aren't true

BBC Radio 4 - The Life Scientific, Julia Shaw on memories that aren't true

Can we trust our memories of events? Julia Shaw talks to Jim Al-Khalili.

Can you get someone to believe they committed a crime (when they didn't)? Julia Shaw tells Jim Al-Khalil about her life and work.

Early in her career, Julia wanted to know if it was possible to get someone to believe they committed a crime (when they hadn’t)?  In a bold experiment she  showed how students created false memories of criminal events in their teenage years, describing in rich detail how they had assaulted people, when no such events had taken place. What does this mean for a criminal justice system that relies heavily on memory-based evidence?  Does it make it more difficult for the victims of crimes to have their voices heard?  Victims of sex crimes, in particular. Or can the findings of false memory research be used to  prevent miscarriages of justice? Julia talks to Jim Al-Khalili about growing up with her dad’s delusional beliefs and paranoid thoughts  and how a profound appreciation that everyone’s reality is different pulled her to the field of false memory research.   
Producer: Anna Buckley

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Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work, finding out what inspires and motivates them and asking what their discoveries might do for us in the future

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