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Science Plumbs Memory's Faults

This week defrocked priest Paul Shanley was convicted of child rape, after the victim testified about memories of the abuse that he recalled only after seeing news reports about Shanley. The trial focused on those memories' reliability, but evidence is growing that nearly all memories distort the truth.

Copyright 2005 NPR

Jon Hamilton is a correspondent for NPR's Science Desk. Currently he focuses on neuroscience and health risks.