I believe this may be a good addition to the cognitive bias literature:
Following the Crowd: Brain Substrates of Long-Term Memory Conformity
- Micah Edelson1,*,
- Tali Sharot2,
- Raymond J. Dolan2,
- Yadin Dudai1
1Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel.
- 2Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK.
ABSTRACT
Human memory is strikingly susceptible to social influences, yet we know little about the underlying mechanisms. We examined how socially induced memory errors are generated in the brain by studying the memory of individuals exposed to recollections of others. Participants exhibited a strong tendency to conform to erroneous recollections of the group, producing both long-lasting and temporary errors, even when their initial memory was strong and accurate. Functional brain imaging revealed that social influence modified the neuronal representation of memory. Specifically, a particular brain signature of enhanced amygdala activity and enhanced amygdala-hippocampus connectivity predicted long-lasting but not temporary memory alterations. Our findings reveal how social manipulation can alter memory and extend the known functions of the amygdala to encompass socially mediated memory distortions.