Abstract
Human memory is strikingly susceptible to social influences, yet we know little about the underlying mechanisms. We examined how socially induced memory errors are generated in the brain by studying the memory of individuals exposed to recollections of others. Participants exhibited a strong tendency to conform to erroneous recollections of the group, producing both long-lasting and temporary errors, even when their initial memory was strong and accurate. Functional brain imaging revealed that social influence modified the neuronal representation of memory. Specifically, a particular brain signature of enhanced amygdala activity and enhanced amygdala-hippocampus connectivity predicted long-lasting but not temporary memory alterations. Our findings reveal how social manipulation can alter memory and extend the known functions of the amygdala to encompass socially mediated memory distortions.
| Original language | English |
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| Pages (from-to) | 108-111 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Science |
| Volume | 333 |
| Issue number | 6038 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2011 |
Funding
Weizmann Institute-UK; British Academy; Wellcome Trust; Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for Neurological DiseasesM.E. was supported by a Weizmann Institute-UK Grant. T.S. is supported by a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship. R.J.D is supported by a Wellcome Trust Program Grant. Y.D. is supported by the Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for Neurological Diseases. We thank A. Ben-Yakov, J. G. Edelson, T. Fitzgerald, O. Furman, S. Fleming, D. Levi, M. Guitart-Masip, A. Mendelsohn, U. Nili, A. Pine, J. S. Winston, and N. Wright for helpful comments and the support teams of the Norman and Helen Asher Center for Brain Imaging at the Weizmann Institute and the Imaging Neuroscience & Theoretical Neurobiology unit in the Wellcome Trust Center for Neuroimaging.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General