My longest running research programme focuses on how and why people might come to remember wholly false childhood experiences. To this end, I have worked with several memory experts in the UK and around the world to investigate a range of issues: What is the power of doctored photos to induce memory distortions? Childhood amnesia precludes us from recalling events in our early childhood, but might it make us more susceptible to developing false memories? Is there some defining characteristic that might enable psychologists to distinguish between genuine and distorted memories? What is the phenomenological experience of remembering fictitious events?
Collaborators
Maryanne Garry (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)
Deryn Strange (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, USA)
Don Read (Simon Fraser University, Canada)
Steve Lindsay (University of Victoria, Canada)
Alan Scoboria (Windsor University, Canada)
Relevant publications
Wade, K. A., Garry, M., Nash, R. A., & Harper, D. (2010). Anchoring effects in the development of false childhood memories. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17, 66-72.
Wade, K. A., Sharman, S. J., Garry, M., Memon, A., Mazzoni, G., Merckelbach, H., & Loftus, E. F. (2007). False claims about false memory research. Consciousness & Cognition, 16, 18-28.
Wade, K. A., Garry, M., Read, J. D., & Lindsay, D. S. (2002). A picture is worth a thousand lies: Using False Photographs to Create False Childhood Memories. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9, 597-603.