Manufacturing False Memories Using Bits of Reality

Abstract

The controversy over the recovery of repressed memories provides a con­ temporary place where the concepts of metacognition and implicit memory both come into play. The idea that adult problems stem from the harboring of deeply repressed memories gained widespread attention when it became the cornerstone of Freud’s (1916-1917) theory of mental functioning. Freud used a rather charming spatial metaphor to convey his view of repression and of the relationship between the unconscious, which he compared to a large hall, and consciousness, which was more like a smaller reception room: Freud was clear in his views of the goals of psychoanalysis; namely, to undo repression and get the patient to remember the forgotten traumatic events of childhood. Freud appeared to accept without questioning the therapeutic benefits of digging for hidden treasures in the depths of his patient’s mind (Arlow, 1995).