You can't trust your memories. You're probable just a bit wrong

[Bucky]

The following is part of my report on earthlings to the mothership. 🛸 (Soon may it return).

https://theconversation.com/amp/are-memories-reliable-expert-explains-how-they-change-more-than-we-realise-106461

Are memories reliable? Expert explains how they change more than we realise

Your memory probably isn’t as good as you think it is. We rely on our memories not only for sharing stories with friends or learning from our past experiences, but we also use it for crucial things like creating a sense of personal identity. Yet evidence shows that our memory isn’t as consistent as we’d like to believe. What’s worse, we’re often guilty of changing the facts and adding false details to our memories without even realising.

(... snip...)

{Getting details wrong, like with the telephone game} can happen to our memories. There are countless reasons why tiny mistakes or embellishments might happen each time we recall past events, ranging from what we believe is true or wish were true, to what someone else told us about the past event, or what we want that person to think. And whenever these flaws happen, they can have long-term effects on how we’ll recall that memory in the future.

Take storytelling for example. When we describe our memories to other people, we use artistic license to tell the story differently depending on who’s listening. We might ask ourselves whether it’s vital to get the facts straight, or whether we only want to make the listener laugh. And we might change the story’s details depending on the listener’s attitudes or political leaning. Research shows that when we describe our memories differently to different audiences it isn’t only the message that changes, but sometimes it’s also the memory itself.

Think about a conflict you've had with a friend or family member. Your perceptions at the time are colored by your emotions. When you recall the conflict later, you will recall little clues from them that confirm or hint at what impression they left you with. You will discount or eventually not remember clues that led to conclusions you didn't draw. You contextualize your recall based on your conclusions. We all have limited brain space to allocate. A little simplification of recall is necessary for smooth functioning of the little gray cells.

The human propensity to draw inferences was once critical to our survival across a million years of evolution. It shouldn't surprise us that we get the facts wrong, little by little, or when our memories tend to make us adhere to our identity or tribe or old opinions.

The Role of Emotion in Memory
https://neurosciencenews.com/emotion-memory-8148/amp/

How many of your memories are fake?
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/11/how-many-of-your-memories-are-fake/281558/

[TxGuitar]

1. I recall reading that

when we remember something we're really remembering the last time we remembered it. memory is a strange thing.

Interesting articles, thanks for sharing!

[Binkie The Clown]

2. The past is fiction. The future is fantasy. Only the now is real. nt

[marie999]

3. Is the now real? What you experience may be altered by how you perceive things using your 5 senses.

Take colors for instance. One color will look different depending on what other colors you are also looking at.

[Binkie The Clown]

5. Then maybe nothing is real...

[milestogo]

4. When I was a kid I remember my father telling stories to other people with all the embellishments.

My mother would correct him. I wasn't sure if they just remembered it differently or if he was simply a better storyteller.

[3catwoman3]

7. If my mother and I recalled an event differently, she always insisted that...

...hers was the right one.

[3catwoman3]

6. The whole "Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory" idea is interesting.

If someone claims to remember what they had for dinner on August 17th, 1955, there is no way to either verify or disprove that.

[Bucky]

10. They're actually are ways to objectively prove who has the better memory

But conducting a truly objective double blind series of experimental tests might be hard on a friendship

[ansible]

8. True, just tried recalling something that happened in 2015 and was convinced it was in 2014

It was only when I found some actual documents about it that I realized I was wrong.

[ck4829]

9. K&R

Last edited Tue Jun 29, 2021, 12:38 PM - Edit history (1)

Critical Race Theory

[bearsfootball516]

11. Considering how incredible the human brain is, it's extremely poor at remembering things.

There's a reason eyewitness testimony is admissible in court. Memories are notoriously poor.