Why is Elements 8 Changing My Dates?

[DazeMae]

I'm a long-time PSE5 user who has just downloaded the PSE8 trial.

Whenever, I select a photo in the organizer and then go into either full or quick edit, the file properties' date created and date modified are changed to the current date - even if I have not edited or resaved the file. Moreover, if the date of the "unedited" photo had previously been set as unknown ("????"), the date that appears in the organizer is changed to this "revised" (i.e., current) date created/modified.

I can't seem to find a preference that would cause this unwanted change. Is this a (critical) bug in PSE8 or is there a way of avoiding the problem? I've scanned a lot of of old family pictures and don't want to tag them with dummy or current dates.