Hi Skeptics,
Just a quick reminder about Skeptics in the Pub this Tuesday. Dr Cara Laney
from Leicester University will be talking about recovered memories.
I’m amused by www.hypnosisinleicester.co.uk offering their Past Life
Regression Therapy service when they say: “are you one of those people that
goes through life questioning everything? then this is not for you.”
Please note that April & May’s talks have switched round.
See you Tuesday,
Simon
leicester.skepticsinthepub.org
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Dr Cara Laney: Are “Recovered” Memories Authentic?
Can people repress traumas like child sexual abuse and then recover their
traumatic memories years or decades later? Sigmund Freud proposed this
coping mechanism and modern therapists have argued that it is common. This
talk will consider whether these “recovered” memories might instead be false
memories.
Cara Laney is a lecturer of forensic psychology at the University of
Leicester. Her main area of research is human memory and the myriad ways it
can go wrong. She has published more than a dozen articles on memory related
topics.
I’ve been informed that there has been a £50,000 challenge issued to one Gary Mannion, a twenty-year-old British “psychic surgeon” who is rapidly gaining recognition in the UK. Mannion claims to effect miraculous healing on his patients through the intervention of his spirit friend “Abraham” and he says that this isn’t just any old Abraham, but the very same one of Biblical fame, and that he – Gary – knows this to be true because when he Googled the name, the Google image he got he recognized as that of his friend Abraham from the Old Testament! Mannion is very careful to stay on the right side of the law, qualifying his extravagant assertions with disclaimers such as “I am not a doctor,” and “I don’t claim to cure cancer,” although the many testimonials on his many websites tell a different story.