Doctors' Notes: False Memories
What's Up Docs?
BBC
4.4 • 659 Ratings
🗓️ 28 October 2025
⏱️ 22 minutes
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Summary
Chris and Xand continue their conversation about false memories with Dr Linda Henkel.
The Docs are digging into the different research studies and experiments that have been done around false memories. They also discuss the concept of repressed memories, and Xand shares some of his own, potentially false memories.
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Presenters: Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken Guest: Dr Linda Henkel Producers: Maia Miller-Lewis and Jo Rowntree Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar Editor: Kirsten Lass Researcher: William Hornbrook Tech Lead: Reuben Huxtable Social Media: Leon Gower Digital Lead: Richard Berry Composer: Phoebe McFarlane Sound Design: Ruth Rainey
At the BBC: Assistant Commissioner: Greg Smith Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
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| 0:10.8 | In 2025, we were here for the entertainment. |
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| 0:44.0 | Welcome to Doctor's Notes. I'm Dr. Chris Van Tiliken. I'm here with my twin brother. |
| 0:47.6 | That's me, Dr. Zand. We've just finished recording an interview, haven't we, Zand, |
| 0:53.1 | with Professor Linda Henkel? That's right. We were talking about false memories. Why our brains make false memories, that it's not a bad thing. |
| 0:55.7 | In fact, it can be a useful thing, but the kind of pitfalls of them and how seductive they can be. |
| 1:02.1 | That for me was one of the most interesting things that Linda said. |
| 1:04.9 | It's that our brain has never cared enormously where useful information comes from. It's about recalling it somehow. So whether |
| 1:14.2 | you tell me that you were poisoned by a particular berry or I remember the experience as something |
| 1:19.8 | that happened to me, it doesn't really matter. Well, we had a lot more to explore on the topic |
| 1:24.0 | of false memories. We really wanted to get into the research, didn't we, Chris? |
| 1:27.8 | That's right. And particularly how scientists and clinicians have deliberately and accidentally |
| 1:35.5 | implanted false memories in other people. And we talked a lot about the idea of repressed |
| 1:41.9 | memories and how sometimes in trying to extract |
| 1:44.8 | repressed memories, which are real, you might create a false one instead. Let's open the notes. |
| 1:56.1 | Linda, thank you for staying with us for extra content for doctor's notes. Oh, it's my pleasure. As you can tell, I love talking about this. |
| 2:04.1 | Why do you find false memory such a fascinating area to study? |
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