Why our memory can't be relied on

Memories are easy to change

In 2006, psychologists Chad Dodson and Lacey Kruger in the experiment I misremember it well: why older adults are unreliable eyewitnesses. have proven that our memories are easily distorted by external factors.

Dodson and Kruger showed the participants in the experiment a video of the robbery and the ensuing police chase. They then handed out questions to the participants, some of which were only indirectly related to the video. For example, there were questions about the shootout, which was not on the video itself. The psychologists then asked the participants to recall which events they saw in the video and which were mentioned only in the questionnaire. Most of the participants were unable to reproduce the information correctly: for example, they claimed that the video captured a shootout.

False memories

Our brain not only distorts existing memories, but sometimes even creates false ones.

In one experiment, The Role of Memory Activation in Creating False Memories of Encoding Context. the participants were shown the words. For example, "nurse", "pill", "illness". And then they asked to name those that they remembered. Many “recalled” that they had seen the word “doctor”, although it was not on the original list.

Distorted chronology

We don't remember much Similarity Breeds Proximity: Pattern Similarity within and across Contexts Is Related to Later Mnemonic Judgments of Temporal Proximity. at what moment certain events took place. For example, we cannot remember exactly when during the day we saw someone of our acquaintances, if this meeting was not associated with strong emotions. The longer the period of time in question, the more distorted our perception of chronology.

What to do about it

When making important decisions, do not rely too heavily on the memory of previous experiences, as our memories may not reflect the past as accurately as we think.

If some events from the past haunt you, ask yourself: "What if what I remember does not really correspond to reality?" Do this mental exercise over and over again, and the burden of the past will begin to lighten.