Virtual Reality Creates False Memories

moon_monkey writes "There's an interesting post on NewScientistTech's blog about virtual reality inducing false memories during a recent experiment (pdf). Ann Schlosser at the University of Washington tested students' ability to learn how to use a real digital camera by operating a virtual one. Although those students who used the virtual camera found it easier to remember how the camera worked, they also experienced more 'false memories'. As the post points out, could this be a serious problem for VR going forward?"

So...

[otacon]

So I didn't really lose my virginity? it was just VR? Damn

EGA memory

[Anonymous Coward]

I often confuse my sex life with Leisure Suit Larry's

Re:So...

[ArsenneLupin]

So I didn't really lose my virginity? it was just VR? Damn

Damn! And I have quite the opposite problem! Drank some 10 glasses of beer the evening when it happened, and have (almost) no memory of the act...

Today, a young man....

[Pojut]

Today, a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration... that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There's no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we're the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather.

Re:So...

[UnknowingFool]

Oh you did, but it wasn't with Heidi Klum. It was with something less attractive. I've seen the YouTube, and all I can say that you're a sick puppy. :P

Dupe!

[muellerr1]

Or, wait, maybe it's not. I guess can't rightly recall now.

Re:So...

[Walt Dismal]

This is all baloney. Although ever since I got back from my Mars vacation I've felt a little strange, but my wife tells me it should pass soon.

Re:Today, a young man....

[CaffeineAddict2001]

Oh, you know what he's doing now? He's going for the righteous indignation dollar. That's a big dollar. Lot of people are feeling that indignation, we've done research. Huge market. He's doing a good thing.

Re:I Believe There is a Name for That Condition:

[cyclomedia]

Surely "Deja VR" ...

i'll get my coat

No worries

[wumpus188]

It is usually just a glitch in the matrix.

Re:I'm confused

[somersault]

The classic example is of course the intro Psych course where an unknown assailant kills someone before the whole class, then runs from the room.

Wow.. higher education sounds a lot more practical based over in the USA! Do you tend to use vagrants as the 'someone', or just international scholarship students who get promised that the money will go to their families?

In other words - "I know what I know"

[NotQuiteReal]

That means a person cannot rid themselves of a false memory any more than they can rid themselves of a real memory.

In a similar vein, people have beliefs that are just as "false". And there you have the basis for most of humanities problems.

Homo Sapiens brains just don't work right, depending on my definition of right, and you cannot disabuse me of that notion.

Re:I'm confused

[OldeTimeGeek]

Ever hear of "Publish or Perish"?

i heard....

[specific]

When Chuck Norris kills you in VR, you die in real life, & you remember being killed by him in your next life.

Money for nothin'...

[MS-06FZ]

That's all fine and good, but now my retarded gardener has developed some kind of strange telekinetic powers - he's going all Dark Phoenix on us!

Re:So...

[Gilmoure]

So...I'm not married to a 5'11" 38F-28-36 librarian/belly-dancer/Unix sys-admin with long dark hair and glasses who digs Conan movies?