How reliable is your memory? | Elizabeth Loftus

Translator: Ainize Sarrionandia Reviewer: Jone Aliri Lazcano

I'd like to tell you about a legal case that I worked on

Laneko kasu batez hitz egin nahi nuke

involving a man named Steve Titus.

Steve Titusei buruzkoa.

Titus was a restaurant manager.

Titus jatetxe bateko gerentea zen.

He was 31 years old, he lived in Seattle, Washington,

31 urte zituen eta Seattlen bizi zen, Washingtonen,

he was engaged to Gretchen,

Gretchenekin konprometituta zegoen,

about to be married, she was the love of his life.

ezkontzear zen, bera zen bere bizitzako maitasuna.

And one night, the couple went out

Gau batean, bikotea irten egin zen

for a romantic restaurant meal.

jatetxe batean afari erromantiko batera.

They were on their way home,

Etxera bidean,

and they were pulled over by a police officer.

polizia batek geratu zituen.

You see, Titus' car sort of resembled

Titusen autoak beste baten antza zuen

a car that was driven earlier in the evening

gau hartan ikusitako beste batena

by a man who raped a female hitchhiker,

emakume bat bortxatu zuen gizon batena,

and Titus kind of resembled that rapist.

eta Titusek bortxatzailearen antza zuen.

So the police took a picture of Titus,

Beraz poliziak argazki bat atera zion,

they put it in a photo lineup,

errekonozimendu frogan jarri,

they later showed it to the victim,

eta biktimari erakutsi zizkioten argazkiak

and she pointed to Titus' photo.

eta biktimak, Titusen argazkia seinalatu zuen.

She said, "That one's the closest."

Eta esan zuen "Hau da antzekoena".

The police and the prosecution proceeded with a trial,

Poliziak eta salatzaileak epaiketa eskatu zuten

and when Steve Titus was put on trial for rape,

eta Steve Titus bortxaketagatik salatzerakoan,

the rape victim got on the stand

bortxaketako biktima altsatu

and said, "I'm absolutely positive that's the man."

eta esan zuen, "ziur nago bera dela".

And Titus was convicted.

Eta Titus kondenatua izan zen.

He proclaimed his innocence,

Errugabea zela aldarrikatu zuen,

his family screamed at the jury,

bere familiak epaileei oihukatu zien,

his fiancée collapsed on the floor sobbing,

emaztegaia negarrez lurrera erori zen,

and Titus is taken away to jail.

eta Titus kartzelan sartu zuten.

So what would you do at this point?

Zer egingo zenukete une horretan?

What would you do?

Zer egingo zenukete?

Well, Titus lost complete faith in the legal system,

Titusek konfidantza galdu zuen sistema juridikoan,

and yet he got an idea.

baina ideia bat izan zuen.

He called up the local newspaper,

Herriko egunkariarekin jarri zen harremanetan,

he got the interest of an investigative journalist,

kazetari ikertzaile baten interesa piztu zuen,

and that journalist actually found the real rapist,

eta kazetariak, benetako bortxatzailea aurkitu zuen

a man who ultimately confessed to this rape,

bortxaketa onartu zuen gizon bat,

a man who was thought to have committed 50 rapes

inguru hartan 50 bortxaketa egin izana leporatzen zitzaion gizon bat,

in that area,

and when this information was given to the judge,

eta informazioa epaileari eman zitzaionean

the judge set Titus free.

epaileak Titus aske utzi zuen.

And really, that's where this case should have ended.

Eta, zinez hor amaitu behar zen kasua.

It should have been over.

Amaitu egin behar zen.

Titus should have thought of this as a horrible year,

Titusentzat urte txar bat izan behar zen,

a year of accusation and trial, but over.

salaketa eta epaiketa urtea, baina amaitua.

It didn't end that way.

Ez zen horrela amaitu.

Titus was so bitter.

Titus etsita zegoen.

He'd lost his job. He couldn't get it back.

Bere lana galdu zuen. Ezin zuen berreskuratu

He lost his fiancée.

Emaztegaia galdu zuen.

She couldn't put up with his persistent anger.

Bere etengabeko haserrea jasanezina zen.

He lost his entire savings,

Bere aurrezkiak galdu zituen,

and so he decided to file a lawsuit

eta salaketa bat jartzea erabaki zuen

against the police and others whom he felt

polizia eta beste batzuen aurka

were responsible for his suffering.

bere sufrimenduaren sortzaileen aurka.

And that's when I really started working on this case,

Eta orduan hasi nintzen kasu honetan lanean

trying to figure out

zera asmatu nahian,

how did that victim go from

nola iritsi zen biktima

"That one's the closest"

"hau da antzekoena" esatetik

to "I'm absolutely positive that's the guy."

"ziur nago hau dela" esatera.

Well, Titus was consumed with his civil case.

Titus indar gabe zegoen kasuagatik.

He spent every waking moment thinking about it,

Uneoro hortan pentsatzen zegoen,

and just days before he was to have his day in court,

eta epaiketa baino egun batzuk lehenago,

he woke up in the morning,

goizean esnatu,

doubled over in pain,

minez tolestu,

and died of a stress-related heart attack.

eta estresak sortutako bihotzekoagatik hil zen.

He was 35 years old.

35 urte zituen.

So I was asked to work on Titus' case

Titusen kasuan lan egiteko eskatu zidaten.

because I'm a psychological scientist.

Psikologo zientifikoa naizelako.

I study memory. I've studied memory for decades.

Oroimena aztertu dut hamarkadetan zehar.

And if I meet somebody on an airplane --

Eta norbait ezagutzen badut hegazkinean

this happened on the way over to Scotland --

- Eskoziara bidean gertatu zitzaidan-

if I meet somebody on an airplane,

Norbait ezagutzen badut hegazkinean,

and we ask each other, "What do you do? What do you do?"

eta elkarri galdetu "zer egiten duzu?"

and I say "I study memory,"

eta "oroimena aztertu" badiot,

they usually want to tell me how they have trouble remembering names,

izenak gogoratzeko zailtasunez hitz egingo didate,

or they've got a relative who's got Alzheimer's

edo Alzheimerra duen kide batez,

or some kind of memory problem,

edo oroimen arazoren batez,

but I have to tell them

baina esan behar diet

I don't study when people forget.

ez dudala aztertzen ahazte prozesua.

I study the opposite: when they remember,

Aurkakoa ikasten dut: gogoratzea,

when they remember things that didn't happen

gertatu ez diren gauzak gogoratzea

or remember things that were different

edo gauzak desberdin gogoratzea

from the way they really were.

benetan izan zenarekin alderatuz.

I study false memories.

Oroimen faltsuak aztertzen ditut.

Unhappily, Steve Titus is not the only person

Zoritxarrez, Steve Titus ez da bakarra

to be convicted based on somebody's false memory.

oroimen faltsu batengatik kondenatua izan dena

In one project in the United States,

EEBBetako proiektu batean

information has been gathered

informazioa bildu da

on 300 innocent people,

300 errugaberen inguruan,

300 defendants who were convicted of crimes they didn't do.

egin gabeko delituengatik kondenatutakoak.

They spent 10, 20, 30 years in prison for these crimes,

10,20 eta 30 urte pasa zituzten kartzelan,

and now DNA testing has proven

eta orain DNA frogek frogatu dute

that they are actually innocent.

errugabeak direla.

And when those cases have been analyzed,

Eta kasu hauek aztertuak izan direnean,

three quarters of them

hiru laurdenak

are due to faulty memory, faulty eyewitness memory.

oroimen faltsuengatik izan dira.

Well, why?

Eta zergatik?

Like the jurors who convicted those innocent people

Errugabe hauek kondenatu zituzten epaimahiak

and the jurors who convicted Titus,

eta Titus kondenatu zuen epaimahiak bezala,

many people believe that memory

askok uste dute oroimena

works like a recording device.

grabagailu bat bezalakoa dela.

You just record the information,

Informazioa gordetzen duena,

then you call it up and play it back

gero berreskuratu eta berrerabiltzeko

when you want to answer questions or identify images.

galderak erantzun edo irudiak identifikatu nahi direnean.

But decades of work in psychology

Baina psikologian hamarkadetan egindako lanek

has shown that this just isn't true.

hau ez dela horrela erakutsi dute.

Our memories are constructive.

Gure oroitzapenak eraikitzaileak dira.

They're reconstructive.

Berreraikitzaileak.

Memory works a little bit more like a Wikipedia page:

Oroimenak Wikipediaren orri baten antzera lan egiten du:

You can go in there and change it, but so can other people.

Gauzak aldatu ditzakezu, baina baita besteek ere.

I first started studying this constructive memory process

Oroitzapen eraikitzaile hauek lehen adiz aztertzen

in the 1970s.

70.hamarkadan hasi nintzen.

I did my experiments that involved showing people

Esperimentuetan jendeari simulatutako delitu eta istripuak erakusten zitzaizkien

simulated crimes and accidents

and asking them questions about what they remember.

eta gogoratzen zutenaz galdetzen zitzaien.

In one study, we showed people a simulated accident

Behin, simulatutako istripu bat erakutsi genuen

and we asked people,

eta zera galdetu,

how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?

ze abiadura zeramaten autoek talka egitean?

And we asked other people,

Beste batzuei zera galdetu genien

how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?

ze abiadura zeramaten autoek elkar jo zutenean?

And if we asked the leading "smashed" question,

eta galderan "jo" erabili genuenean,

the witnesses told us the cars were going faster,

lekukoek autoa azkarrago zihoala esan zuten,

and moreover, that leading "smashed" question

eta orohar galderan "jo" hitza erabiltzeak

caused people to be more likely to tell us

jendeak probabilitate handiagoz zera esatea eragin zuen,

that they saw broken glass in the accident scene

istripuaren tokian kristal apurtuak ikusi zituela

when there wasn't any broken glass at all.

kristal apurturik ez zegoenean.

In another study, we showed a simulated accident

Beste batean, simulatutako istripu bat erakutsi genuen

where a car went through an intersection with a stop sign,

non kotxe batek "stop" seinale bat pasatzen zuen

and if we asked a question that insinuated it was a yield sign,

eta "eman bidea" seinalea zela iradokiz galdera bat egitean,

many witnesses told us they remember seeing a yield sign

lekuko askok bidegurutzean "eman bidea" seinalea gogoratzen zutela esaten zuten

at the intersection, not a stop sign.

eta ez "stop" seinalea.

And you might be thinking, well, you know,

Eta pentsa dezakezu, tira, badakizu,

these are filmed events,

hauek grabaketak dira,

they are not particularly stressful.

eta ez dira bereziki estresagarriak.

Would the same kind of mistakes be made

Akats berdinak egingo lirateke

with a really stressful event?

benetan estresagarriak diren egoeretan?

In a study we published just a few months ago,

Duela gutxi argitaratutako ikerketa batean

we have an answer to this question,

galdera horri erantzun bat ematen diogu,

because what was unusual about this study

ikerketa honen bereizgarri bat

is we arranged for people to have a very stressful experience.

jendea egoera estresagarrian jartzea delako.

The subjects in this study

Bertan, partaideak

were members of the U.S. military

EEBBetako militarrak ziren

who were undergoing a harrowing training exercise

entrenamendu beldurgarrian zeudenak

to teach them what it's going to be like for them

egoera zailetara ohitzen joateko

if they are ever captured as prisoners of war.

gerran preso eramaten bazituzten.

And as part of this training exercise,

Eta entrenamendu honen zati gisa,

these soldiers are interrogated in an aggressive,

soldaduak agresiboki galdekatzen dituzte

hostile, physically abusive fashion for 30 minutes

30 minutuz fisikoki erasotuz

and later on they have to try to identify

eta gero identifikatzen saiatu behar dira

the person who conducted that interrogation.

nork galdekatu zituen.

And when we feed them suggestive information

Eta informazio iradokitzailea eskaintzen diegunean

that insinuates it's a different person,

pertsona desberdin bat dela iradokiz,

many of them misidentify their interrogator,

askok txarto identifikatzen dute galdetzailea,

often identifying someone who doesn't even remotely

askotan, identifikatutakoak ez du

resemble the real interrogator.

benetako galdetzailearen antzik ere.

And so what these studies are showing

Ikerketa hauek erakusten dutena zera da,

is that when you feed people misinformation

jendeari iradokizunak egiterakoan

about some experience that they may have had,

jasan duten esperientzia baten inguruan,

you can distort or contaminate or change their memory.

berain oroitzapena aldatu daitekeela.

Well out there in the real world,

Benetako munduan,

misinformation is everywhere.

informazio eza nonahi dago.

We get misinformation

Desinformazioa dago

not only if we're questioned in a leading way,

ez bakarrik galdetuak bagara,

but if we talk to other witnesses

baita lekukoekin hitz egiterakoan ere

who might consciously or inadvertently feed us

nortzuek modu desegokian eskaini diezaguketen

some erroneous information,

informazio okerra,

or if we see media coverage about some event we might have experienced,

edo bizitako egoera baten berria entzutean

all of these provide the opportunity

eta guzti honek oroimenaren kutsaketa ahalbidetzen du.

for this kind of contamination of our memory.

In the 1990s, we began to see

1990an, zera ikusten hasi ginen,

an even more extreme kind of memory problem.

oraindik larriagoa den oroimen arazoa.

Some patients were going into therapy with one problem --

Pazienteak arazo batekin joaten ziren terapiara--

maybe they had depression, an eating disorder --

agian depresioa, elikadura nahastea--

and they were coming out of therapy

eta terapiatik ateratzen zirenean

with a different problem.

arazo desberdin bat zuten.

Extreme memories for horrific brutalizations,

Basakeria beldurgarrien oroimenak,

sometimes in satanic rituals,

batzuetan erritual satanikoenak,

sometimes involving really bizarre and unusual elements.

batzuetan elementu arraroei loturikoak.

One woman came out of psychotherapy

Emakume batek psikoterapia amaitzean

believing that she'd endured years

zera sinisten zuen, urteetan zehar

of ritualistic abuse, where she was forced into a pregnancy

eraso zeremonialak jasan izan zituela, haurdunaldira eraman zutenak

and that the baby was cut from her belly.

eta haurra bere tripatik moztu zutela.

But there were no physical scars

Baina ez zeukan orbain fisikorik

or any kind of physical evidence

ez inolako froga fisikorik

that could have supported her story.

bere istorioa ziurtatuko zuenik.

And when I began looking into these cases,

Eta kasu hauek aztertzen hasi nintzenean,

I was wondering,

nire buruari galdetzen nion,

where do these bizarre memories come from?

nondik datoz oroitzapen arraro hauek?

And what I found is that most of these situations

Eta zera aurkitu nuen, kasu gehienetan

involved some particular form of psychotherapy.

psikoterapia motaren batean gertatzen zela hori.

And so I asked,

Eta beraz, galdetu nuen,

were some of the things going on in this psychotherapy --

psikoterapia honen aspekturen bat--

like the imagination exercises

imajinazio ariketak esaterako

or dream interpretation,

edo ametsen interpretazioa,

or in some cases hypnosis,

edo kasu batzuetan hipnosia,

or in some cases exposure to false information --

edo informazio faltsuaren aurkezpena--

were these leading these patients

ote zen pazienteak bultzatzen zituena

to develop these very bizarre,

oso arraroak ziren

unlikely memories?

oroitzapenak garatzera.

And I designed some experiments

Beraz, esperimentu batzuk diseinatu nituen

to try to study the processes that were being used

prozesu hauek aztertzen saiatzeko

in this psychotherapy so I could study

psikoterapia horietan, aztertu nahian

the development of these very rich false memories.

oroimen faltsuen garapena.

In one of the first studies we did,

Egindako hasierako ikerketa batean,

we used suggestion,

sugestioa erabili genuen,

a method inspired by the psychotherapy we saw in these cases,

kasu horietako psikoterapiako metodo bat,

we used this kind of suggestion

sugestio mota bat erabili genuen

and planted a false memory

eta oroitzapen faltsu bat txertatu

that when you were a kid, five or six years old,

non umea zinenean, 5-6 urte,

you were lost in a shopping mall.

zentro komertzial batean galdu zinen.

You were frightened. You were crying.

Beldurtuta zeunden. Negarrez.

You were ultimately rescued by an elderly person

Azkenean adineko batek salbatu zintuen

and reunited with the family.

eta zure familiarengana eraman.

And we succeeded in planting this memory

Eta oroitzapen hau txertatzea lortu genuen

in the minds of about a quarter of our subjects.

partaideen laurden batean.

And you might be thinking, well,

Eta pentsa dezakezu, tira,

that's not particularly stressful.

hori ez da bereziki estresagarria.

But we and other investigators have planted

Guk eta beste ikertzaile batzuk oroitzapen faltsuak txertatu ditugu

rich false memories of things that were

ezohikoagoak eta estresagarriagoak zirenak.

much more unusual and much more stressful.

So in a study done in Tennessee,

Tennesseen egindako ikerketa batean,

researchers planted the false memory

ikertzaileek oroitzapen faltsu bat txertatu zuten

that when you were a kid, you nearly drowned

non, haurra zinenean ia ito egin zinen

and had to be rescued by a life guard.

eta sorosle batek erreskatatu behar izan zintuen.

And in a study done in Canada,

Eta Kanadan egindako ikerketa batean,

researchers planted the false memory

ikertzaileek oroitzapen faltsua txertatu zuten

that when you were a kid,

non haurra zinenean

something as awful as being attacked by a vicious animal

animalia basati batek erasotzea bezalako zerbait

happened to you,

gertatu zitzaizun,

succeeding with about half of their subjects.

eta partehartzaile erdiekin lortu zuten.

And in a study done in Italy,

Eta Italian egindako ikerketa batean,

researchers planted the false memory,

ikertzaileek oroitzapen faltsua txertatu zuten

when you were a kid, you witnessed demonic possession.

non, haurra zinenean deabrutze bat ikusi zenuen.

I do want to add that it might seem

Gehitu nahi dut, eman dezakeela

like we are traumatizing these experimental subjects

partehartzaile esperimentalak traumatizatzen ditugula

in the name of science,

zientziaren izenean,

but our studies have gone through thorough evaluation

baina gure ikerketak ebaluatuak izan dira

by research ethics boards

etika batzordeengandik

that have made the decision

eta erabaki dute

that the temporary discomfort that some

sortu dezaketen egonezin iragankorra,

of these subjects might experience in these studies

partehartzaile esperimentalek sufritu dezaketena,

is outweighed by the importance of this problem

konpentsatu egiten dela arazoaren garrantziarekin,

for understanding memory processes

oroimen prozesuak ulertzea

and the abuse of memory that is going on

eta munduko leku batzuetan egiten diren gehiegikeriak aztertzea.

in some places in the world.

Well, to my surprise,

Nire harridurarako,

when I published this work and began to speak out

lan hau argitaratu eta hitz egiten hastean

against this particular brand of psychotherapy,

psikoterapia mota horien aurka,

it created some pretty bad problems for me:

arazo batzuk sortu zitzaizkidan:

hostilities, primarily from the repressed memory therapists,

etsaitasunak, batez ere oroimen erreprimituen terapeutengandik

who felt under attack,

erasotuak sentitu zirenak,

and by the patients whom they had influenced.

eta tratatuak izan ziren pazienteengandik.

I had sometimes armed guards at speeches

Batzuetan zaindariak eraman behar izan nituen hitzaldietara

that I was invited to give,

non gonbidatua izan nintzen,

people trying to drum up letter-writing campaigns to get me fired.

jendea ni kaleratzeko kanpaina egiten.

But probably the worst

Baina segurutik, okerrena zera izan zen,

was I suspected that a woman

susmoa nuela emakume bat

was innocent of abuse

erasoen errugabea zela,

that was being claimed by her grown daughter.

eta bere alabak salatu egin zuela.

She accused her mother of sexual abuse

Amari eraso sexualak egitea leporatzen zion

based on a repressed memory.

erreprimitutako oroitzapenetan oinarrituta.

And this accusing daughter had actually allowed her story

Eta alaba salatari hark baimendu egin zuen istorioa

to be filmed and presented in public places.

filmatua eta publikoki argitaratua izatea.

I was suspicious of this story,

Zalantzak neuzkan istorioaren inguruan,

and so I started to investigate,

eta ikertzen hasi nintzen,

and eventually found information that convinced me

eta informazioa lortu nuen konbentzitu ninduena

that this mother was innocent.

ama errugabea zela.

I published an exposé on the case,

Kasuaren inguruan argitaratu nuen,

and a little while later, the accusing daughter

eta geroago, alaba salatzaileak

filed a lawsuit.

auzitara eraman ninduen.

Even though I'd never mentioned her name,

Bere izena inoiz aipatu ez nuen arren,

she sued me for defamation and invasion of privacy.

difamazio eta pribatutasun inbasioagatik salatu ninduen.

And I went through nearly five years

Eta 5 urtean zehar

of dealing with this messy, unpleasant litigation,

auzi desatseginetan ibili nintzen,

but finally, finally, it was over and I could really

baina azkenean amaitu zen, eta

get back to my work.

lanera itzuli ahal izan nuen.

In the process, however, I became part

Hala ere, bidean, parte izan nintzen

of a disturbing trend in America

EEBBetako joera kezkagarri batena

where scientists are being sued

non zientzialariak salatuak diren

for simply speaking out on matters of great public controversy.

eztabaida publikoetan parte hartzeagatik.

When I got back to my work, I asked this question:

Lanera itzuli nintzenean, galdetu nuen:

if I plant a false memory in your mind,

oroitzapen faltsu bat txertatuz gero,

does it have repercussions?

ondorioak izango al ditu?

Does it affect your later thoughts,

Zure geroko pentsamenduetan eragingo al du?

your later behaviors?

eta zure geroko jokabideetan?

Our first study planted a false memory

Lehen ikerketan oroitzapen bat txertatu genuen

that you got sick as a child eating certain foods:

non haurra zinenean elikagai batek gaixotu zintuen:

hard-boiled eggs, dill pickles, strawberry ice cream.

arrautza egosiak, pepinoak, marrubizko izozkia.

And we found that once we planted this false memory,

Aurkitu genuen, behin oroitzapena txertatuta

people didn't want to eat the foods as much

jendeak ez zuela hori hainbeste jan nahi

at an outdoor picnic.

kanpoko piknik batean.

The false memories aren't necessarily bad or unpleasant.

Oroitzapen faltsuak ez dute desatseginak izan beharrik.

If we planted a warm, fuzzy memory

Oroitzapen atsegin bat txertatuz gero

involving a healthy food like asparagus,

zainzuria bezalako elikagai osasuntsu baten inguruan

we could get people to want to eat asparagus more.

jendeak zainzuri gehiago jatea lortuko genuke.

And so what these studies are showing

Ikerketa hauek erakusten dutena da

is that you can plant false memories

oroitzapen faltsuak txertatu daitezkeela

and they have repercussions

eta ondorio izan ditzaketela

that affect behavior long after the memories take hold.

jokabidean, epe luzera.

Well, along with this ability

Gaitasun honekin batera

to plant memories and control behavior

oroitzapenak txertatzea eta jokabidea kontrolatzea,

obviously come some important ethical issues,

kontu etiko garrantzitsuak daude,

like, when should we use this mind technology?

esaterako, noiz erabili behar dira teknika hauek?

And should we ever ban its use?

edo, debekatu egin behar dira?

Therapists can't ethically plant false memories

Terapeutek ezin dute etikoki oroitzapenik txertatu

in the mind of their patients

pazienteen gogamenean

even if it would help the patient,

laguntzeko bada ere,

but there's nothing to stop a parent

baina ezerk ez dio guraso bati galerazten

from trying this out on their overweight or obese teenager.

haur obesoekin egiten saiatzeko.

And when I suggested this publicly,

Eta hau publikoki iradoki nuenean,

it created an outcry again.

kexak sortu ziren berriz.

"There she goes. She's advocating that parents lie to their children."

"Hor doa. Gurasoek haurrei gezurrak esatea bultzatzen"

Hello, Santa Claus. (Laughter)

Kaixo, Santa Claus. (Barreak)

I mean, another way to think about this is,

Hau ikusteko eduki dezakegun beste modu bat zera da,

which would you rather have,

zer nahiago duzu, haur obesoa, diabetesarekin, biziraupen laburra,

a kid with obesity, diabetes, shortened lifespan,

all the things that go with it,

honek guztiak dakarrena,

or a kid with one little extra bit of false memory?

ala oroitzapen faltsu txiki bat duen haurra?

I know what I would choose for a kid of mine.

Badakit zer aukeratuko nukeen nire haurrarentzat.

But maybe my work has made me different from most people.

Beharbada nire lanak gehiengotik desberdindu egin nau.

Most people cherish their memories,

Gehienek oroitzapenak maite dituzte,

know that they represent their identity,

euren identitatea errepresentatzen dute,

who they are, where they came from.

nortzuk diren, nondik datozen.

And I appreciate that. I feel that way too.

Eta hori baloratzen dut. Nik ere horrela sentitzen dut.

But I know from my work

Baina nire lanagatik dakit

how much fiction is already in there.

zenbat fikzio dagoen horietan.

If I've learned anything from these decades

Hamarkada hauetan zerbait ikasi badut

of working on these problems, it's this:

arazo horiekin lanean, zera da:

just because somebody tells you something

norbaitek zerbait esateak soilik

and they say it with confidence,

eta konfidantzarekin esateak,

just because they say it with lots of detail,

zehaztasun osoz kontatu arren,

just because they express emotion when they say it,

kontatzerakoan emozioak adierazi arren,

it doesn't mean that it really happened.

ez du esan nahi gertatu zenik.

We can't reliably distinguish true memories from false memories.

Ezin dira oroitzapen faltsua eta benetakoa guztiz bereiztu

We need independent corroboration.

Baieztapen independienteak behar ditugu.

Such a discovery has made me more tolerant

Aurkikuntza hauek toleranteagoa egin naute

of the everyday memory mistakes

lagun eta familiakoek egindako ohiko oroimen akatsekiko.

that my friends and family members make.

Such a discovery might have saved Steve Titus,

Aurkikuntza hauek Steve Titus salba zezaketen

the man whose whole future was snatched away

bere etorkizuna kendu zioten gizona

by a false memory.

oroitzapen faltsu bategatik.

But meanwhile, we should all keep in mind,

Bitartean jakin beharko genuke,

we'd do well to,

ondo egingo genuke,

that memory, like liberty,

oroimena, askatasuna bezala,

is a fragile thing.

gauza hauskorra dela.

Thank you. Thank you.

Eskerrik asko. Eskerrik asko.

Thank you. (Applause)

Eskerrik asko. (Txaloak)

Thanks very much. (Applause)

Mila esker. (Txaloak)