Julia Korkman is a Finnish forensic psychologist who specializes in eyewitness testimony and interrogation of witnesses. She is an expert in litigation. “We have a tendency to come up with images that are ultimately hard to separate from real memories,” she says.
Autumn twilight began to fall on the city. Psychologist Julia Korkman walked around Lauttasaari, Helsinki, calmly pushing a wheelchair in front of her.
Suddenly, Korkman heard the screeching of brakes behind her. At the same instant, she heard a frightened cry.
Yulia Korkman turned and saw that the car hit an elderly woman. The car stopped, the woman was lying on the road. Fortunately, the woman got off with fright, but the police were called to the scene. Yulia Korkman was interrogated as a witness.
When the police started asking the psychologist questions, she had to bite her tongue. It seemed to her that she saw what happened with her own eyes, although in fact she saw nothing.
“I had to remind myself that I hadn't really seen anything. I could only imagine what really happened. And even if I saw the incident, I would hardly be able to tell how fast the car was going,”she says.
According to Korkman, this is a typical situation for witnesses. Witness statements can be very unreliable.
Julia Korkman is a Finnish forensic psychologist who specializes in eyewitness testimony and interrogation of witnesses. She is an expert in litigation.
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“We have a tendency to come up with images that are ultimately hard to separate from real memories,” she says.
"Memory works associatively and compares situations with our previous experience."
Korkman emphasizes this when he trains police officers.
“I always say that you don’t have to ask about the details right away - you should ask a more general question, for example: 'Tell us what you saw.' People really want to help others and are ready to come up with at least some answer.”
She emphasizes that crimes and misfortunes often happen very quickly, and a person does not always have time to make important observations.
“Our brains very quickly interpret the things we see in accordance with our prejudices, and we often do not even know about it. Our memories can easily be shaped according to information received later."
People may also have memories that are difficult to put into words.
“For example, a rape victim has to say things that we're not used to saying about a situation that can often be mentally difficult. You need to be able to say what happened, in what order and at what time. The impossible is demanded from the victim."
At what age do people usually have memories?
Usually people remember very little about their childhood, especially about their preschool years. We are left with shards of memories, says Korkman.
“Most often, the first memories are associated with three or four years of age, sometimes with a slightly earlier age. Memories from a period earlier than two years old can be considered exceptional."
Korkman talks about the memory paradox. Although we cannot remember the first years of life, they still have a very big impact on us.
"Whether you were loved when you were a child and were you safe - these impressions remain with us forever."
Often times, people are best at remembering situations that aroused a lot of emotion in them, or situations that were traumatic to some extent.
"This is probably necessary for human self-preservation: remembering things to avoid."
It's hard to tell if childhood memories are completely true, and if they relate to real events. Memories can be based on experiences we heard from our parents, or from a photograph we saw in a family album.
Sometimes two relatives may have completely different memories of the same childhood experiences.
According to Julia Korkman, this does not need to be paid so much attention. You just have to accept that childhood memories are partly true and partly fiction.
A person's age also affects memory. Over time, the memories become fainter.
“For example, it is easier for a 20-year-old to remember names than a 40-year-old. It's even harder to do it at 70”.
On the other hand, an older person can look at events with a greater perspective, and have a better understanding of causation, says Korkman.
"Sometimes they talk about 'crystallized mind', this is a wonderful term! We need mind not only so that we remember everything. Memory must be selective."
Julia Korkman remembers her childhood well. The family lived in their own house in the Toukola district of Helsinki.
“We could walk a lot with friends in the neighborhood. My parents worked hard, but we had a good time together and there was a good atmosphere at home. We listened to music a lot and loved to sing together in the summer."
Julia Korkman reminds that a person is by nature very easy to control.
Children and the elderly, as well as people with drug addiction and people with an unstable psyche are especially easily manageable.
“Manageability is not bad, if we are not talking about breaking the law. She helps us because we are social animals."
We often manage our children and choose the direction for them, which, in our opinion, will be useful for them.
"We give the child carrots and say that he will definitely like this food."
The frightening thing about this situation, according to Korkman, is that sometimes a person can be made to believe something that never happened. For example, there are cases when the therapist was able to force the patient to "remember" during psychotherapy that the parent raped him.
The psychotherapist has a great responsibility, and he needs to be careful, says Julia Korkman.
She is very critical of the so-called alternative methods of psychotherapy, which are carried out by a specialist without the qualifications of a psychologist or psychotherapist. In such psychotherapy sessions, they try to find a reason why a person is not feeling well.
“A bad condition can rarely be explained by one reason. For example, one specific childhood trauma, thanks to which everything becomes clear. If a psychologist is strenuously looking for such a painful point, then there is cause for concern. Although sometimes a fairy tale suits people."
“Because children are easy to manage, you need to be extra careful when interrogating them,” continues Korkman.
“If a child is asked what color the car was, he can easily name the color of the car of some familiar person. But if a child is asked what the car was, the child may remember something unexpected - for example, that there was a sticker with Moomin trolls on the window."
Conversations with children sometimes become a problem in the process of deciding who will become the child's guardian. Julia Korkman faced such cases when the child's answers differed depending on who he was talking to.
“A child can behave in such a way that an adult is happy with him,” she says.
Time can change the way a person looks at memories. A person has a tendency to remember the good and forget the bad.
“There are studies proving that people think they did better in school than they actually did. Or, according to his own recollections, a person believes that he acted more nobly than he actually was."
You can consciously try to forget the sad moments, says Korkman. Shameful situations can be remembered at night, but later many of us still forget them.
Very traumatic situations can be an exception.
“Police officers who see a truly frightening incident of violence during their service may experience flashbacks, even if they really want to forget what happened. The same applies, for example, to military injuries,”says Korkman.
If the memories are very painful, they should be discussed. Unspoken grief and unresolved issues are a strong burden for a person.
“Usually it's better for mental health to throw out the emotions to move on. If a difficult situation is voiced to a friend or professional, then the situation can be taken under control. It will not turn into a snowball,”says Yulia Korkman.
Some time ago, Korkman received a letter from an elderly woman. For the first time she was telling the story of her life with all its upheavals to an outsider.
The woman was raped as a child, and they did it so brutally that she ended up in the hospital. Parents advised her not to tell anyone about this, so that the incident would be forgotten. The woman was silent about the rape for many decades.
When the woman sent her letter to Julia Korkman, she felt that a huge load fell from her shoulders, although she did not even know if the letter would reach the addressee.
Korkman answered the woman and they still keep in touch. They call each other and met several times.
Julia Korkman recalls that a slight distortion of memories is not at all dangerous. Accurate memories are usually only required in court.
“Uncertainty is part of life, this also applies to memory. You just have to accept that in the end we do not remember so much, and our memories are not so true."
Kira Gronow