I'd like to tell you about a legal case that I worked on involving a man named Steve Titus.
Gustaríame falarlles sobre un caso xudicial no que traballei que tiña que ver cun home chamado Steve Titus.
Titus was a restaurant manager. He was 31 years old, he lived in Seattle, Washington, he was engaged to Gretchen, about to be married, she was the love of his life. And one night, the couple went out for a romantic restaurant meal. They were on their way home, and they were pulled over by a police officer. You see, Titus' car sort of resembled a car that was driven earlier in the evening by a man who raped a female hitchhiker, and Titus kind of resembled that rapist. So the police took a picture of Titus, they put it in a photo lineup, they later showed it to the victim, and she pointed to Titus' photo. She said, "That one's the closest." The police and the prosecution proceeded with a trial, and when Steve Titus was put on trial for rape, the rape victim got on the stand and said, "I'm absolutely positive that's the man." And Titus was convicted. He proclaimed his innocence, his family screamed at the jury, his fiancée collapsed on the floor sobbing, and Titus is taken away to jail.
Titus era o xerente dun restaurante. Tiña 31 anos, vivía en Seattle, Washington, estaba comprometido con Gretchen, a punto de casar. Ela era o amor da súa vida. Unha noite, a parella saíu para cearen romanticamente nun restaurante. Ían de volta á casa, e detívoos un policía. O coche de Titus tiña algún parecido cun coche que esa mesma tarde conducía un home que violara unha muller que facía autostop, e Titus parecíase algo a ese violador. Así que o policía tomou unha fotografía de Titus, puxérona xunto con outras e amosáronllas á vítima. Ela sinalou a foto de Titus. E dixo, "ese é o máis parecido". A policía e a fiscalía iniciaron un xuízo contra Steve Titus, que foi inculpado por violación. Cando a vítima da violación subiu ao estrado, dixo, "estou completamente segura de que ese é o home". E Titus foi condenado. El declarou a súa inocencia, a súa familia gritoulle ao xurado, a súa noiva esvaeceuse lepeando, e a Titus levárono ao cárcere.
So what would you do at this point? What would you do? Well, Titus lost complete faith in the legal system, and yet he got an idea. He called up the local newspaper, he got the interest of an investigative journalist, and that journalist actually found the real rapist, a man who ultimately confessed to this rape, a man who was thought to have committed 50 rapes in that area, and when this information was given to the judge, the judge set Titus free.
Que farían vostedes a partir de aí? Que farían? Ben, Titus perdeu completamente a súa fe no sistema legal pero tivo unha idea. Chamou ao diario local, conseguiu interesar a un xornalista investigador e este logrou atopar ao verdadeiro violador. Un home que ao final confesou a violación. Un home que parece que cometera 50 violacións nesa área, e cando esta información se lle presentou ao xuíz, o xuíz liberou a Titus.
And really, that's where this case should have ended. It should have been over. Titus should have thought of this as a horrible year, a year of accusation and trial, but over.
E realmente, aí debería rematar o caso. Debería acabarse. Titus debeu pensar que ese fora un ano horrible, un ano de acusación e xuízo, pero que xa pasou.
It didn't end that way. Titus was so bitter. He'd lost his job. He couldn't get it back. He lost his fiancée. She couldn't put up with his persistent anger. He lost his entire savings, and so he decided to file a lawsuit against the police and others whom he felt were responsible for his suffering.
Pero non rematou así. Titus estaba moi amargado. Perdeu o seu traballo. Non puido recuperalo. Perdeu á súa noiva. Ela non podía soportar a súa permanente ira. Perdeu tódolos seus aforros, polo que decidiu presentar unha demanda contra a policía e contra todos os que pensaba que eran responsables do seu sufrimento.
And that's when I really started working on this case, trying to figure out how did that victim go from "That one's the closest" to "I'm absolutely positive that's the guy."
E foi nese momento cando eu comecei a traballar neste caso, tratando de entender como esa vítima pasou de "Ese é o máis parecido" a "Estou completamente segura de que ese é o home".
Well, Titus was consumed with his civil case. He spent every waking moment thinking about it, and just days before he was to have his day in court, he woke up in the morning, doubled over in pain, and died of a stress-related heart attack. He was 35 years old.
Ben, Titus estaba consumido co proceso civil. Pasaba cada intre do día pensando nel, e xusto uns días antes da súa cita no xulgado, espertou unha mañá, dobregado pola dor, e morreu dun ataque cardíaco asociado ao estrés. Tiña 35 anos.
So I was asked to work on Titus' case because I'm a psychological scientist. I study memory. I've studied memory for decades. And if I meet somebody on an airplane -- this happened on the way over to Scotland -- if I meet somebody on an airplane, and we ask each other, "What do you do? What do you do?" and I say "I study memory," they usually want to tell me how they have trouble remembering names, or they've got a relative who's got Alzheimer's or some kind of memory problem, but I have to tell them I don't study when people forget. I study the opposite: when they remember, when they remember things that didn't happen or remember things that were different from the way they really were. I study false memories.
Así que me pedíron que traballase no caso de Titus porque son psicóloga científica. Estudo a memoria. Fíxeno durante décadas. E se atopo alguén nun avión --isto pasoume de camiño a Escocia -- se eu coñezo a alguén nun avión, e nos preguntamos, "en que traballas? En que traballas?" e eu digo: "Estudo a memoria", adoitan empezar a contarme os seus problemas para recordar nomes, ou que teñen un parente con Alzheimer ou algún tipo de problema coa memoria. Entón teño que dicir que eu non estudo como a xente esquece. Estudo o contrario: como recordan, cando lembran cousas que non ocorreron ou se lembran cousas diferentes de como sucederon na realidade. Eu estudo falsos recordos.
Unhappily, Steve Titus is not the only person to be convicted based on somebody's false memory. In one project in the United States, information has been gathered on 300 innocent people, 300 defendants who were convicted of crimes they didn't do. They spent 10, 20, 30 years in prison for these crimes, and now DNA testing has proven that they are actually innocent. And when those cases have been analyzed, three quarters of them are due to faulty memory, faulty eyewitness memory.
Por desgraza, Steve Titus non é o único que foi condenado baseándose nos falsos recordos de alguén. Nun proxecto nos EE.UU., recompilouse información acerca de 300 persoas inocentes, 300 acusados condenados por delitos que non cometeran. Persoas que pasaron 10, 20, 30 anos no cárcere por eses delitos, e despois as probas de ADN demostraron que, en realidade, eran inocentes. E cando se analizaron eses casos, tres cuartas partes ocorreran por fallos de memoria, recordos imperfectos das testemuñas.
Well, why? Like the jurors who convicted those innocent people and the jurors who convicted Titus, many people believe that memory works like a recording device. You just record the information, then you call it up and play it back when you want to answer questions or identify images. But decades of work in psychology has shown that this just isn't true. Our memories are constructive. They're reconstructive. Memory works a little bit more like a Wikipedia page: You can go in there and change it, but so can other people. I first started studying this constructive memory process in the 1970s. I did my experiments that involved showing people simulated crimes and accidents and asking them questions about what they remember. In one study, we showed people a simulated accident and we asked people, how fast were the cars going when they hit each other? And we asked other people, how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other? And if we asked the leading "smashed" question, the witnesses told us the cars were going faster, and moreover, that leading "smashed" question caused people to be more likely to tell us that they saw broken glass in the accident scene when there wasn't any broken glass at all. In another study, we showed a simulated accident where a car went through an intersection with a stop sign, and if we asked a question that insinuated it was a yield sign, many witnesses told us they remember seeing a yield sign at the intersection, not a stop sign.
Entón, por que? Como os xurados que condenaron a todos eses inocentes e os que condenaron a Titus, moita xente cre que a memoria é coma un dispositivo de gravación. Só necesitas gravar a información, logo búscala e reprodúcela cando queres responder preguntas ou identificar imaxes. Pero décadas de traballo en psicoloxía mostraron, simplemente, que isto non é certo. Os nosos recordos son construtivos. Son reconstrutivos. A memoria funciona máis coma unha páxina da Wikipedia: Ti podes ir e cambiala, pero tamén poden facelo outros. Comecei a estudar este proceso construtivo da memoria nos anos 70. Fixen experimentos que implicaban amosarlle á xente delitos e accidentes simulados e logo preguntarlles acerca do que recordaban. Nun estudo, amosabámoslle á xente un accidente simulado e preguntabámoslles, como de rápido ían os coches cando chocaron? E a outros preguntabámoslles, como de rápido ían os coches cando se estrelaron? Se na pregunta diciamos "estrelaron", as testemuñas dicían que os coches ían máis rápido, e máis aínda, se na pregunta se dicía "estrelaron" iso facía que a xente dixese con máis probabilidade que viran vidros rotos na escena do accidente cando non había ningún en absoluto. Noutro estudo, amosabamos un accidente simulado onde un coche atravesaba unha intersección cun sinal de "stop", e se lles preguntabamos, insinuando que había un sinal de "ceda o paso", moitas testemuñas dicían que lembraban o sinal de "ceda o paso" na intersección, non o sinal de "stop".
And you might be thinking, well, you know, these are filmed events, they are not particularly stressful. Would the same kind of mistakes be made with a really stressful event? In a study we published just a few months ago, we have an answer to this question, because what was unusual about this study is we arranged for people to have a very stressful experience. The subjects in this study were members of the U.S. military who were undergoing a harrowing training exercise to teach them what it's going to be like for them if they are ever captured as prisoners of war. And as part of this training exercise, these soldiers are interrogated in an aggressive, hostile, physically abusive fashion for 30 minutes and later on they have to try to identify the person who conducted that interrogation. And when we feed them suggestive information that insinuates it's a different person, many of them misidentify their interrogator, often identifying someone who doesn't even remotely resemble the real interrogator.
Agora ben, vostedes poden pensar que estes son eventos gravados, non son particularmente estresantes. Cometeríase o mesmo tipo de error nun evento realmente estresante? Nun estudo que publicamos hai poucos meses, demos unha resposta a esta pregunta, porque o especial dese estudo foi que puxemos as persoas nunha situación moi estresante. Os que participaron nese estudo eran militares dos EE.UU. que pasaran por un horroroso exercicio de adestramento para ensinarlles o que lles pasaría se fosen capturados como prisioneiros de guerra. Como parte dese exercicio de adestramento, eses soldados eran interrogados dun xeito agresivo, hostil e fisicamente abusivo, durante 30 minutos. Logo debían tratar de identificar a persoa que levara a cabo o interrogatorio. E cando se lles subministraba información interesada insinuando que fora unha persoa diferente, moitos deles identificaban erroneamente o seu interrogador, ás veces sinalando a alguén que, nin remotamente, se parecía ao interrogador verdadeiro.
And so what these studies are showing is that when you feed people misinformation about some experience that they may have had, you can distort or contaminate or change their memory.
O que amosan estes estudos é que, cando lle dás á xente información errada acerca dalgunha experiencia pasada, podes alterar, contaminar ou cambiar o seu recordo.
Well out there in the real world, misinformation is everywhere. We get misinformation not only if we're questioned in a leading way, but if we talk to other witnesses who might consciously or inadvertently feed us some erroneous information, or if we see media coverage about some event we might have experienced, all of these provide the opportunity for this kind of contamination of our memory.
Fóra de aí, no mundo real, a información errada está en todas partes. Recibimos información errada non só se nos preguntan dun certo xeito, senón tamén se falamos con outras testemuñas que, consciente ou inconscientemente, dannos algo de información errónea. Ou se vemos a cobertura nos medios dalgún suceso que vivimos, todos estes casos son oportunidades para este tipo de contaminación da memoria.
In the 1990s, we began to see an even more extreme kind of memory problem. Some patients were going into therapy with one problem -- maybe they had depression, an eating disorder -- and they were coming out of therapy with a different problem. Extreme memories for horrific brutalizations, sometimes in satanic rituals, sometimes involving really bizarre and unusual elements. One woman came out of psychotherapy believing that she'd endured years of ritualistic abuse, where she was forced into a pregnancy and that the baby was cut from her belly. But there were no physical scars or any kind of physical evidence that could have supported her story. And when I began looking into these cases, I was wondering, where do these bizarre memories come from? And what I found is that most of these situations involved some particular form of psychotherapy. And so I asked, were some of the things going on in this psychotherapy -- like the imagination exercises or dream interpretation, or in some cases hypnosis, or in some cases exposure to false information -- were these leading these patients to develop these very bizarre, unlikely memories? And I designed some experiments to try to study the processes that were being used in this psychotherapy so I could study the development of these very rich false memories.
Nos anos 90, comezamos a ver un tipo de problema de memoria aínda máis extremo. Algúns pacientes estaban iniciando tratamento para un problema-- quizais depresión, unha desorde alimenticia -- e saían da terapia con outro problema distinto. Recordos extremos de brutalidade horrible, ás veces, de rituais satánicos, ás veces, incluíndo elementos estraños ou infrecuentes. Unha muller saíu de psicoterapia crendo que soportara durante anos abusos rituais, nos que era forzada a quedar embarazada e que lle arrincaban o bebé do seu ventre. Pero non tiña cicatrices nin ningún tipo de evidencia física que apoiase a súa historia. E cando empecei a examinar estes casos, eu preguntábame, de onde veñen estes estraños recordos? O que atopei é que, a maioría destas situacións tiñan que ver con algunha forma de psicoterapia. Así que preguntei se serían algunhas desas cousas resultado da psicoterapia --como exercicios de imaxinación ou interpretación de soños ou, nalgúns casos, hipnose ou, quizais, exposición a información falsa-- se estes pacientes serían suxestionados para desenvolver eses raros e improbables recordos? E deseñei algúns experimentos para estuda-los procesos que se usaban nesa psicoterapia, para examinar o desenvolvemento destes falsos recordos tan vívidos.
In one of the first studies we did, we used suggestion, a method inspired by the psychotherapy we saw in these cases, we used this kind of suggestion and planted a false memory that when you were a kid, five or six years old, you were lost in a shopping mall. You were frightened. You were crying. You were ultimately rescued by an elderly person and reunited with the family. And we succeeded in planting this memory in the minds of about a quarter of our subjects. And you might be thinking, well, that's not particularly stressful. But we and other investigators have planted rich false memories of things that were much more unusual and much more stressful. So in a study done in Tennessee, researchers planted the false memory that when you were a kid, you nearly drowned and had to be rescued by a life guard. And in a study done in Canada, researchers planted the false memory that when you were a kid, something as awful as being attacked by a vicious animal happened to you, succeeding with about half of their subjects. And in a study done in Italy, researchers planted the false memory, when you were a kid, you witnessed demonic possession.
Nun dos primeiros estudos que fixemos usamos a suxestión, un método inspirado pola psicoterapia que vimos neses casos, usamos ese tipo de suxestión. e implantamos un falso recordo de que, cando eras un neno, de cinco ou seis anos, perdícheste nun centro comercial. Estabas asustado. Chorabas. Finalmente fuches rescatado por un adulto e volviches coa túa familia. E tivemos éxito ao implantar ese recordo nas mentes da cuarta parte dos suxeitos. E vostedes poden pensar que iso non é especialmente estresante. Pero, nós e outros investigadores implantamos recordos vívidos de cousas moito máis estrañas e máis estresantes. Nun estudo feito en Tennessee, os investigadores implantaron o falso recordo de que cando eras un neno, case afogaches e tívote que rescatar un socorrista. E nun estudo feito en Canadá, os investigadores implantaron o falso recordo de que, cando un neno, algo tan horrible como ser atacado por un animal salvaxe pasárache a ti, e tiveron éxito coa metade dos suxeitos. E nun estudo feito en Italia, os investigadores implantaron o falso recordo, de que cando eras neno, foras testemuña dunha posesión demoníaca.
I do want to add that it might seem like we are traumatizing these experimental subjects in the name of science, but our studies have gone through thorough evaluation by research ethics boards that have made the decision that the temporary discomfort that some of these subjects might experience in these studies is outweighed by the importance of this problem for understanding memory processes and the abuse of memory that is going on in some places in the world.
Quero engadir que podería parecer como que estamos traumatizando aos suxeitos experimentais no nome da ciencia, pero os nosos estudos foron examinados coidadosamente por comités de ética da investigación que decidiron que a molestia temporal que algúns destes suxeitos poderían experimentar nestes estudos é superada pola importancia deste problema para entender os procesos da memoria e o abuso da memoria que esta a ocorrer nalgúns lugares do mundo.
Well, to my surprise, when I published this work and began to speak out against this particular brand of psychotherapy, it created some pretty bad problems for me: hostilities, primarily from the repressed memory therapists, who felt under attack, and by the patients whom they had influenced. I had sometimes armed guards at speeches that I was invited to give, people trying to drum up letter-writing campaigns to get me fired. But probably the worst was I suspected that a woman was innocent of abuse that was being claimed by her grown daughter. She accused her mother of sexual abuse based on a repressed memory. And this accusing daughter had actually allowed her story to be filmed and presented in public places. I was suspicious of this story, and so I started to investigate, and eventually found information that convinced me that this mother was innocent. I published an exposé on the case, and a little while later, the accusing daughter filed a lawsuit. Even though I'd never mentioned her name, she sued me for defamation and invasion of privacy. And I went through nearly five years of dealing with this messy, unpleasant litigation, but finally, finally, it was over and I could really get back to my work. In the process, however, I became part of a disturbing trend in America where scientists are being sued for simply speaking out on matters of great public controversy.
Ben, para a miña sorpresa, cando publiquei este traballo e comecei a falar en contra desta forma particular de psicoterapia, tiven algúns problemas serios: hostilidades, principalmente con terapeutas da memoria reprimida, que se sentiron atacados, e cos pacientes aos que eles influíran. Tiven gardas armados nalgunhas charlas que me invitaron a dar. Houbo campañas de recolleita de firmas para que me despedisen. Pero probablemente o peor foi que eu sospeitaba que unha muller era inocente dos abusos dos que a acusaba a súa propia filla, xa adulta. Ela acusaba a súa nai de abuso sexual baseada nun recordo reprimido. E esta filla permitira que a súa historia se filmase e se presentase en lugares públicos. Eu sospeitaba desta historia, así que empecei a investigar, e, finalmente, atopei información convincente de que a nai era inocente. Publiquei unha exposición do caso, e pouco tempo despois, a filla presentou unha demanda. Aínda que nunca mencionei o seu nome, ela demandoume por difamación e invasión da intimidade. E pasei preto de cinco anos loitando con esta desagradable lea, pero finalmente, todo rematou e puiden realmente retornar ao meu traballo. No proceso, con todo, volvinme parte dunha tendencia perturbadora nos EE.UU., na que os científicos eran denunciados simplemente por falar de temas de gran controversia pública.
When I got back to my work, I asked this question: if I plant a false memory in your mind, does it have repercussions? Does it affect your later thoughts, your later behaviors? Our first study planted a false memory that you got sick as a child eating certain foods: hard-boiled eggs, dill pickles, strawberry ice cream. And we found that once we planted this false memory, people didn't want to eat the foods as much at an outdoor picnic. The false memories aren't necessarily bad or unpleasant. If we planted a warm, fuzzy memory involving a healthy food like asparagus, we could get people to want to eat asparagus more. And so what these studies are showing is that you can plant false memories and they have repercussions that affect behavior long after the memories take hold.
Cando regresei ao meu traballo, fíxenme a pregunta: Se implanto falsos recordos na túa mente, haberá repercusións? Afectará iso aos teus pensamentos despois? Ao teu comportamento futuro? O noso primeiro estudo implantaba o recordo falso de que de neno enfermaras por comer certos alimentos: ovos cocidos, cogombros en vinagre, xeado de amorodo... Atopamos que, unha vez que implantamos estes falsos recordos, as persoas xa non querían comer estes alimentos nun pícnic ao aire libre. Os falsos recordos non son necesariamente malos ou desagradables. Se implantábamos un recordo agradable, borroso, que tiña que ver con comida saudable, coma espárragos, podíamos facer que a xente quixese comer máis espárragos. Así que, o que estes estudos están a mostrar é que podes implantar falsos recordos e lograr repercusións que afectan ao comportamento moito tempo despois de que o recordo sexa asimilado.
Well, along with this ability to plant memories and control behavior obviously come some important ethical issues, like, when should we use this mind technology? And should we ever ban its use? Therapists can't ethically plant false memories in the mind of their patients even if it would help the patient, but there's nothing to stop a parent from trying this out on their overweight or obese teenager. And when I suggested this publicly, it created an outcry again. "There she goes. She's advocating that parents lie to their children."
Ben, canda esta capacidade para implantar recordos e controla-lo comportamento, obviamente veñen algúns asuntos éticos importantes, como, cando deberiamos usar esta tecnoloxía na mente? E se deberiamos incluso prohibila? Os terapeutas non poden, eticamente, implantar falsos recordos na mente dos seus pacientes, aínda que iso puidera axudarlles, pero nada pode evitar que un pai intente isto co seu adolescente con sobrepeso ou obesidade. E cando suxerín isto publicamente, provoquei outra protesta. "Aí vai esta outra vez. Está a suxerir que os pais lles mintan aos fillos".
Hello, Santa Claus. (Laughter)
Ola, Papá Noel. (Risas)
I mean, another way to think about this is, which would you rather have, a kid with obesity, diabetes, shortened lifespan, all the things that go with it, or a kid with one little extra bit of false memory? I know what I would choose for a kid of mine.
Quero dicir, outro xeito de velo é, que preferirías ter: un neno obeso, diabético, con menor esperanza de vida, e todo o que iso implica, ou un neno cuns poucos recordos falsos? Eu sei o que escollería para un dos meus fillos.
But maybe my work has made me different from most people. Most people cherish their memories, know that they represent their identity, who they are, where they came from. And I appreciate that. I feel that way too. But I know from my work how much fiction is already in there. If I've learned anything from these decades of working on these problems, it's this: just because somebody tells you something and they say it with confidence, just because they say it with lots of detail, just because they express emotion when they say it, it doesn't mean that it really happened. We can't reliably distinguish true memories from false memories. We need independent corroboration. Such a discovery has made me more tolerant of the everyday memory mistakes that my friends and family members make. Such a discovery might have saved Steve Titus, the man whose whole future was snatched away by a false memory.
Pero, quizais, o meu traballo fíxome distinta da maioría das persoas. A maioría da xente valora os seus recordos, sabe que representan a súa identidade, quen son, de onde veñen. Eu entendo isto. Síntome tamén así. Pero sei, polo meu traballo, canto de mito hai neste tema. Se aprendín algo destas décadas de traballo sobre estes problemas, é isto: só porque alguén che diga algo e cho diga con confianza, só porque o di con todo luxo de detalles, só porque se expresa con emoción cando o di, non significa que realmente ocorrese. Non podemos distinguir os recordos falsos dos verdadeiros con fiabilidade. Necesitamos unha confirmación independente. Este descubrimento fíxome máis tolerante cos erros cotiáns de memoria que cometen os meus amigos e a miña familia. Este descubrimento puido salvar a Steve Titus, o home cuxo futuro foi arrebatado por un recordo falso.
But meanwhile, we should all keep in mind, we'd do well to, that memory, like liberty, is a fragile thing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause) Thanks very much. (Applause)
Pero mentres tanto, todos deberíamos ter presente, faríamos ben en facelo, que a memoria, como a liberdade, é algo fráxil. Grazas. Grazas. Grazas. (Aplausos) Moitas grazas. (Aplausos)