友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!阅读过程发现任何错误请告诉我们,谢谢!! 报告错误
飞读中文网 返回本书目录 我的书架 我的书签 TXT全本下载 进入书吧 加入书签

criminal psychology-第103章

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!



 so that she overlooked the name; and hence wrote it unconsciously。 Only when the pressure on her brain was reduced did the idea that Guttenberger was the murderer pass from the subconscious to the conscious。 Psychiatrists explain the case as follows:

The thing here involved is retrograde amnesia。 It is nowadays believed that this phenomenon in the great majority of cases occurs according to the rule which defines traumatic hysteria; i。 e。; as ideogen。 The ideational complexes in question are forced into the subconsciousness; whence; on occasion; by aid of associative processes; hypnotic concentration; and such other similar elements; they can be raised into consciousness。 In this case; the suppressed ideational complex manifested itself in signing the name。

All legal medicine discusses the fact that wounds in the head make people forget single words。 Taine; Guerin; Abercrombie; etc。; cite many examples; and Winslow tells of a woman who; after considerable bleeding; forgot all her French。 The story is also told that Henry Holland had so tired himself that he forgot German。 When he grew stronger and recovered he regained all he had forgotten。

_Now would we believe a prisoner who told us any one of these things?_

The phenomena of memories which occur in dying persons who have long forgotten and never even thought of these memories; are very significant。 English psychologists cite the case of Dr。 Rush; who had in his Lutheran congregation Germans and Swedes; who prayed in their own language shortly before death; although they had not used it for fifty or sixty years。 I can not prevent myself from thinking that many a death…bed confession has something to do with this phenomenon。'2'


'2' Cf。 H。 Gross's Archiv。 XV; 123。


At the boundary between incorrect perception and forgetting are those cases in which; under great excitement; important events  do not reach consciousness。 I believe that the responsibility is here to be borne by the memory rather than by sense…perception。 There seems to be no reason for failing to perceive with the senses under the greatest excitement; but there is some clearness in the notion that great excitement causes what has just been perceived to be almost immediately forgotten。 In my ‘‘Manual'' I have discussed a series of cases of this sort; and show how the memory might come into play。 None of the witnesses; e。 g。; had seen that Mary Stuart received; when being executed; two blows。 In the case of an execution of many years ago; not one of those present could tell me the color of the gloves of the executioner; although everyone had noticed the gloves。 In a train wreck; a soldier asserted that he had seen dozens of smashed corpses; although only one person was harmed。 A prison warden who was attacked by an escaping murderer; saw in the latter's hand a long knife; which turned out to be a herring。 When Carnot was murdered; neither one of the three who were in the carriage with him; nor the two footmen; saw the murderer's knife or the delivery of the blow; etc。

How often may we make mistakes because the witnessesin their excitementhave forgotten the most important things!


Section 55。 (d) Illusions of Memory。

Memory illusion; or paramnesia; consists in the illusory opinion of having experienced; seen; or heard something; although there has been no such experience; vision; or sound。 It is the more important in criminal law because it enters unobtrusively and unnoticed into the circle of observation; and not directly by means of a demonstrated mistake。 Hence; it is the more difficult to discover and has a disturbing influence which makes it very hard to perceive the mistakes that have occurred in consequence of it。

It may be that Leibnitz meant paramnesia with his ‘‘perceptiones insensibiles。'' Later; Lichtenberg must have had it in mind when he repeatedly asserted that he must have been in the world once before; inasmuch as many things seemed to him so familiar; although; at the time; he had not yet experienced them。 Later on; Jessen concerned himself with the question; and Sander'1' asserts him to have been the first。 According to Jessen; everybody is familiar with the phenomenon in which the sudden impression occurs; that  what is experienced has already been met with before so that the future might be predicted。 Langwieser asserts that one always has the sensation that the event occurred a long time ago; and Dr。 Karl Neuhoff finds that his sensation is accompanied with unrest and contraction。 The same thing is discussed by many other authors。'1b'


'1' W。 Sander: ber Erinnerungstuschungen; Vol。 IV of Archiv fr Psychiatrie u。 Nervenkrankheiten。

'1b' Sommer: Zur Analyse der Erinnerungstuechungen。 Beitrge zur Psych。 d。 Aussage; 1。 1903。


Various explanations have been offered。 Wigand and Maudsley think they see in paramnesia a simultaneous functioning of both relations。 Anje believes that illusory memory depends on the differentiation which sometimes occurs between perception and coming…into…consciousness。 According to Klpe; these are the things that Plato interpreted in his doctrine of pre…existence。

Sully;'2' in his book on illusions; has examined the problem most thoroughly and he draws simple conclusions。 He finds that vivacious children often think they have experienced what is told them。 This; however; is retained in the memory of the adult; who continues to think that he has actually experienced it。 The same thing is true when children have intensely desired anything。 Thus the child… stories given us by Rousseau; Goethe; and De Quincey; must come from the airy regions of the dream life or from waking revery; and Dickens has dealt with this dream life in ‘‘David Copperfield。'' Sully adds; that we also generate illusions of memory when we assign to experiences false dates; and believe ourselves to have felt; as children; something we experienced later and merely set back into our childhood。


'2' James Sully: Illusions。 London。


So again; he reduces much supposed to have been heard; to things that have been read。 Novels may make such an impression that what has been read or described there appears to have been really experienced。 A name or region then seems to be familiar because we have read of something similar。

It will perhaps be proper not to reduce all the phenomena of paramnesia to the same conditions。 Only a limited number of them seem to be so reducible。 Impressions often occur which one is inclined to attribute to illusory memory; merely to discover later that they were real but unconscious memory; the things had been actually experienced and the events had been forgotten。 So; for example; I visit some region for the first time and get the impression that I have seen it before; and since this; as a matter of fact; is not the case; I believe myself to have suffered from an illusion of memory。  Later; I perceive that perhaps in early childhood I had really been in a country that resembled this one。 Thus my memory was really correct; I had merely forgotten the experience to which it referred。

Aside from these unreal illusions of memory; many; if not all others; are explicable; as Sully indicates; by 
返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0
未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!