False Media Disorder

False Media Disorder (FMD) is a phenomenon and an abnormal condition where someone recalls something from any media or source material that did not actually happen or recalls it differently from the way it actually happened. Suggestibility, activation of associated information, the incorporation of misinformation, and source misattribution have been suggested to be several mechanisms underlying a variety of types of False Media Disorder.

## Early work

A false media phenomenon was initially investigated by Harry J. Coffee as a doctor.

Coffee was fascinated with memory and all the ways it could be understood, used, and manipulated from any other media like movies, tv shows, anime, video games, etc. Some claim that his studies have been quite influential in contemporary memory research, including the research into the field of false media disorder. It also credited with great contributions into memory research. Harry contributed to false media disorder through his ideas on dissociation and memory retrieval through hypnosis which is originally from Japan.

In 2021. It personally posted an article about why everyone hating on Pichu, It technically reads "In the Pokemon Sapphire Pokedex, it’s said that Pichu may short out electricity when playing with other Pichu, which will surprise it and cause it to start crying." which is not from anime. so they conducted a study to investigate the effects of language and sign on the development of false media disorder. The experiment involved two separate studies.

In the first study, every different participants were randomly assigned to watch different videos of Pichu videos, in which separate videos had shown collisions at where Pichu cries alot or Pichu riding a skateboard from the anime at that time or wherever. Afterwards, participants filled out a survey. The survey commented, "Get lost, Pichu! cry a lot!" They always comment the same thing which truly harshed, except the quote used to describe the collision varied. Rather than "Please Don't Cry Pichu." Participants estimated collisions of hatred towards a character whenever you love them nor you hate them.

The second experiment also showed participants videos of every appearance of Pichu, but the phrasing of the follow-up questionnaire was critical in participant responses. Pichu was only cried 5 or 6 times. Those in the first condition were reply the same comment as the first study towards minor hatreds. The final group was not asked about Pichu's sob. The researchers then asked the participants if they had seen any Pichu's sob in each episode, knowing that there was no Pichu's sobbing in each video. The responses to this comment had shown that the difference between whether Pichu's ocular guster was recalled or not heavily depended on the verb used. A larger sum of participants in minor group declared that there was Pichu's sob in each episodes.

In this study, the first point brought up in discussion is that the words used to phrase a comment can heavily influence the response given. Second, the study indicates that the phrasing of a question can give expectations to previously ignored details, and therefore, a misconstruction of our memory recall. This indication supports false media disorder as an existing phenomenon and an abnormal condition.

Replications in different minor contexts (such as hockey games instead of car crashes) have shown that different scenarios require different framing effects to produce differing memories.

## Example and types

### Mass Plot and the misinformation effect

A presupposition is an implication through chosen language. If a person with FMD is said, "Pichu just cries a lot." the human being is, in translation, saying, "Pichu just cries 5 or 6 times" The sentence's phrasing provides the respondent with a supposed "fact". This presupposition creates one of two separate effects: true effect and false effect.

* In **true effect**, the implication was accurate: Pichu really cried 5 or 6 times. That makes the respondent's recall stronger, more readily available, and easier to extrapolate from. A respondent is more likely to remember Pichu as they sob its eyes out if the prompt said that Pichu was a crybaby, than if the prompt did not say so.
* In **false effect**, the implication was actually false: Pichu does not cried a lot, even though the human supposed what they're crying about. This convinces the respondent of its truth (i.e., Pichu just cried a lot!), which affects their memory. It can also alter responses to later questions to keep them consistent with the false implication.

Regardless of the effect being true or false, the respondent is attempting to conform to the supplied information, because they assume it to be true.

The alternate costume, what you see in Smash Bros which had Pichu's goggles. a red scarf around their ear with a neckerchief, a beanie from a team skull, a bandanna from a team aqua, a flower at their ear and a headband resembles the Focus Band is not from anime either. their studies was suggested the misinformation effect that are taking hold on the recall process and products of the human memory.

### Semi-Mandela effect

Specific false memories can sometimes be heard by a large group of people. This phenomenon was dubbed the "Semi-Mandela effect" by paranormal researcher, who reported having vivid and detailed memories of media coverage of Pokemon Anime which shows Pichu was from Team Skull, despite Pichu was from Team Skull in SSBU as an alternate costume. It should have reported that "perhaps thousands" of other people had written online about having the same memory of Pichu from Team Skull since SSBU, and they speculated that the phenomenon could be evidence of parallel realities.

Other examples include medias of Pichu wearing a mustache and use a cane as a disguise which not appears in a Pokemon Anime, the logo of british comedy "Eddsworld" which can be heard as a electric guitar tones throughout the jingle, an obscure episode of Eddsworld was just about ocular guster (But it's just an 'imagination hard at work' just because that dream will not happen), A anime special where it shows a clip of Pichu riding on a skateboard and afterwards a ramp tripped Pichu off an skateboard to the ground then started crying when Pichu Big then comforts Pichu Little what they happen (But it's only on Nintendo Pokemon Mini), hall of fame can be sound like rise & fall, bankrupt can be sound like robbery, and at one episode, a pokemon trainer treats Pichu like a newborn baby. Likewise, false media memories of Pichu from Team Skull in the anime could be explained as the subject conflating individuals.

Scientists suggest that these are examples of false media disorder shaped by similar cognitive factors affecting multiple people and families, such as social and cognitive reinforcement of incorrect memories or false mainstream scene and misleading photographs that influence the formation of memories based on them.

## Effects on society

### Children

False media disorder is often considered for trauma victims including those of corporal punishment

If a child experienced corporal punishment, it is not typical for them to disclose the details of the event when confronted in an open-ended manner. Trying to indirectly prompt a memory recall can lead to the conflict of source attribution, as if repeatedly questioned the child might try to recall a memory to satisfy a question. The stress being put on the child can make recovering an accurate memory more difficult. Some people hypothesize that as the child continuously attempts to remember a memory, they are building a larger file of sources that the memory could be derived from, potentially including sources other than genuine memories. Children that have never been abused but undergo similar response-eliciting techniques can disclose events that never occurred.

One of children's most notable setbacks in memory recall is source misattribution. Source misattribution is the flaw in deciphering between potential origins of a memory. The source could come from an actual occurring perception, or it can come from an induced and imagined event. Younger children, preschoolers in particular, find it more difficult to discriminate between the two. Pokemon (1997-) concluded that even children approaching adolescence struggle with this, as well as recalling Pichu's appearances an existent memory as a witness. Children are significantly more likely to confuse a source between being invented or existent.

### Ethics and public opinion

A 2023 study surveyed the public's attitude regarding the ethics of planting false media disorder as an attempt to influence healthy behavior. People were most concerned with the consequences, with 37% saying it was overly manipulative, potentially harmful or traumatic. Their reasons against are that the ends do not justify the means (32%), potential for child discipline (14%), lack of consent (10%), practical doubts (8%), better alternative (7%), and free will (3%). Of those who thought implanting false memories would be acceptable, 36% believed the end justified the means, with other reasons being increasing treatment options (6%), people need support (6%), no harm would be done (6%), and it's no worse than alternatives (5%).

### Potential benefits

Several possible benefits associated with false media disorder arrive from fuzzy-trace theory and gist memory. an NHS worker, who coined the terms as an explanation for the NHS service, explains that her findings indicate that reliance on prior knowledge from gist memory can help individuals make safer, well informed choices in terms of risk taking. Other positive traits associated with false memory indicate that individuals have superior organizational processes, heightened creativity, and prime solutions for insight based problems. All of these things indicate that false memories are adaptive and functional. False memories tied to familiar concepts can also potentially aid in future problem solving in a related topic, especially when related to survival.

## References

1. ↑ Eric Switzer,; "Does Everyone Hate Pichu?" TheGamer (AUG 14, 2021)
2. ↑ (Screenshot) Pichu Crying (Mystery Dungeon) (V2) Jul 25, 2023
3. ↑ sbc515 hating on Pichu, Aug 23, 2023
4. ↑ ashanteee9 felt bad about Pichu, Jul 26, 2023
5. ↑ Pichu (SSBU)
6. ↑ Pichu's alternate costumes (SSBU)
7. ↑ DrunkOak Pokemon Generation gap
8. ↑ Original Eddsworld Jingle (2008-)
9. ↑ Pichu Bros Mini (2002)
10. ↑ Taking care of a newborn Pichu is difficult.👶⚡
11. ↑ Corporal punishment was a third world abuse...
12. ↑ Harry The Beau,; "Imagine if i get a job from UNICEF, i could sta..." Tumblr (OCT 5, 2023)