Reconstructive memory research study

• How advertising can change our memories of the past
• Autobiographical manipulation


  A way advertisers use to create nostalgic (happy memories) for their products
• Advertising

  A cue to recollect past experiences
• Recently generated advertising images

  May alter what really happened in the past & create a false autobiographical memory
• Autobiographical adverts


  May lead consumers to imagine themselves in the advertised event, and this vicarious experience may alter how they remember their own past
• Memories that have had time to fade are particularly prone to corruption
• With suggestion and imagination, a significant minority of people can be led to believe that they have had experiences that are totally false and manufactured
• Sujan, Bettman & Baumgartner: '1993'
• Loftus and Pickrell: '1995'