By IANS
New York : Doctored photos have a way of affecting your memory, according to a new study that used digitally altered images of public events.
The study, initiated by the University of California at Irvine, found that doctored photos of public events can make them appear bigger and more violent than they actually were.
Findings of the study have been published in the latest issue of the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, Sciencedaily.com reported.
Shown digitally altered images of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest in Beijing and a 2003 anti-war protest in Rome, participants in the study recalled the events differently from the way they unfolded.
Doctored photos, which began as Internet hoaxes, have been making their way into mainstream media as well. Newspapers like Los Angeles Times and USA Today have published such photos and later issued apologies.
When media use digitally doctored photographs, they may ultimately change the way we recall history, said psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, who initiated the study.
“It shows the power of anyone to tamper with people’s recollection, and it gives the media another reason to regulate such doctoring, besides ethical reasons,” Loftus said.
In the study, participants were shown either original or digitally altered images depicting the two events and then asked questions about them, including the number of people they thought had been involved, the response of law enforcement authorities and the level of violence.
Researchers doctored the Beijing photo to show large crowds standing in the sidelines while a lone protester stood before a row of advancing Chinese military tanks, and the Rome protest photo was altered to show riot police and a menacing, masked protester among a crowd of demonstrators.
“It’s potentially a form of human engineering that could be applied to us against our knowledge and against our wishes and we ought to be vigilant about it,” Loftus said.
“With the addition of a few little upsetting and arousing elements in the Rome protest photo, people remembered this peaceful protest as being more violent than it was, and as a society we have to figure how we can regulate this.”
Viewing the digitally altered images affected the way participants remembered the events, as well as their attitudes toward protests.
Those who viewed the doctored photograph of the Rome protest recalled the demonstration as violent and negative, and also recalled more physical confrontation and property damage. Participants who viewed the doctored photos said they were less inclined to participate in future protests, according to the study.