Source: ABC Science Online
Implanting false memories of a bad experience with alcohol could prevent people abusing alcohol later, a Canadian researcher has said.
Dan Bernstein from Kwantlen University College, showed if people are led to believe they once drank themselves sick, it can affect their taste for a particular drink. He presented the research, conducted at the International Conference on Memory in Sydney.
In the study, 142 people aged 18-20 were told they had had a bad past experience with alcoholic drinks. "We wanted to know if there were consequences to false memory and we looked at whether we could increase people's confidence that they got sick drinking rum some time in their past," Bernstein said.
"What we find is that if you've increased your confidence that you've got sick drinking rum, you now give rum less preference."
Participants' memories were manipulated by telling them that a computer had generated a personal profile based on a questionnaire about past eating and drinking habits. They were told they had become sick on rum in the past and they were asked to elaborate on that experience.
About a quarter of the participants became more confident they had actually been sick on rum. "Between 30 and 40% increased their confidence for the item in comparison to a control group," he says. When asked to rate how much they liked rum they rated it less than before their memories were manipulated.
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