Les faux souvenirs partent en frise

La production scientifique sur les faux souvenirs, et autres distorsions de la mémoire, s’est accélérée dans les années 1990, à partir du moment où la fameuse « guerre des souvenirs » a été déclarée. Ce conflit, souvent vif, opposait deux camps. Un groupe de belligérants défendait l’idée que des souvenirs infantiles, généralement de nature traumatique, pouvaient faire l’objet d’amnésie. Néanmoins, à l’aide de techniques thérapeutiques appropriées, ces souvenirs pouvaient regagner la surface et aider les patients à aller mieux.

L’autre groupe se montrait particulièrement suspicieux sur les mécanismes invoqués par les défenseurs des souvenirs retrouvés, mais aussi sur les procédures thérapeutiques employées. Celles-ci étaient accusées d’être suggestives et de favoriser ainsi la formation de faux souvenirs portant sur les évènements prétendument recouvrés.

Avec souvent beaucoup d’ingéniosité, les chercheurs se revendiquant de ce mouvement ont commencé à imaginer des protocoles expérimentaux afin d’étudier les conditions dans lesquelles se forment les faux souvenirs. La recherche se poursuit toujours depuis, parfois avec des hauts et des bas, comme le confirme le graphique que voici :

J’ai consigné, dans la frise temporelle ci-dessous, des repères importants dans l’histoire scientifique des faux souvenirs, depuis les années 1970 jusqu’à nos jours. Bien sûr, dans ce genre d’exercice, la règle est de faire des choix, et donc, d’être sélectif et subjectif. La règle est bien respectée : certaines et certains d’entre vous vont, probablement, s’étonner de la présence de travaux qui leur paraissent anecdotiques ou de l’absence d’autres résultats qui leur semblent importants.

Références citées dans la frise temporelle

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• Shaw, J. (2018). How can researchers tell whether someone has a false memory? Coding strategies in autobiographical false-memory research: a reply to Wade, Garry, and Pezdek (2018). Psychological Science, 29(3), 477–480. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618759552
• Shaw, J., & Porter, S. (2015). Constructing rich false memories of committing crime. Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614562862
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Glossaire

Notions du thésaurus de la mémoire présentes dans la frise temporelle :

• Faux souvenir
• Hypothèse de la réactivation sensorielle
• Inflation par imagination
• Mémoire adaptative
• Optogénétique
• Paradigme de Deese-Roediger-McDermott
• Paradigme des crashing memories
• Paradigme des informations trompeuses
• Paradigme du faux retour
• Souvenir contesté
• Souvenir retrouvé
• Théorie de la trace floue

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Crédit photo

Photo de Athena provenant de Pexels