Photography, Torture and the Memory

There is much discussion about the connection between photography and memory, and many photographers cite explorations of this relationship as the basis for their work. A new series of studies presented in an article on Wired Science Blog show how the mind can be made to create false memories, in this case specifically related to interrogation, even when confronted with a visual record of a photograph.

"Using data from soldiers in a mock prisoner-of-war exercise within the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape programs of the U.S. military, new research shows that 85 percent of soldiers chose the man in the photograph - who was not involved in any way - instead of the man who had actually subjected them to what the military calls a "very stressful interrogation" that could have included a variety of physically demanding tasks and some violence."

Read more on Wired Magazine Blog.

copyright Angus McDiarmind, courtesy Wired Science Blog