The Mandela Effect, or Why You Can't Trust Your Memory

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The Mandela effect refers to the fact that many people have false memories. The key to this unusual phenomenon lies in the very mechanism of our memory.

In 1962, spouses Stan and Jane Berenstein published a children's book called The Big Honey Hunt, the first in the popular Berenstain Bears book series. Subsequently, more than 300 books appeared, two animated series based on their stories, as well as toys and accessories dedicated to the heroes of the books.

In December 2013, legendary human rights activist and former South African President Nelson Mandela passed away. He died of a respiratory infection at his home in the suburbs of Johannesburg.

What do these cases have in common?

With each of these events, contrary to official data, different people have different memories.

Many believe that the original title of the Berenstein Bear series is The Berenst. ein Bears or even The Be rnst ein Bears, not The Berenst ain Bears.

Another famous example is the legendary scene in the fifth episode of "Star Wars" in which Darth Vader allegedly utters "I am your father, Luke". But in fact, the phrase sounds different:

As for the death of Nelson Mandela, thousands of people around the world claim that he actually died in prison. In honor of this, the phenomenon of collective memories, contrary to the facts, is called the "Mandela effect."

Why the Mandela effect occurs

The term was coined by Fiona Broome in 2005. During one event, she found out that several people, just like her, remember that Nelson Mandela did not die at home, but in prison. This prompted Broome and other like-minded people to collect and study other alternative memories.

For example, there are various memories of the number of states in America, the location of New Zealand in relation to Australia, the logos of famous companies, or the chronology of significant events.

Fiona Broome, although she was researching this phenomenon, could not name its exact cause. There are many theories, both very real and mystical.

For example, some explain alternative memories by the existence of parallel worlds in which events take place differently from ours.

However, there are more scientific justifications for this phenomenon, for example, the substitution of memories.

Why Not All Memories Can Be Trusted

Every time we remember something, we change this memory and, as it were, overwrite it. This means that over time, under the influence of internal and external factors, it undergoes significant transformations.

According to the results of many studies, a person is able to remove a memory from memory, replace it with another, or invent a completely new memory. This happens if a person wants, for example, to forget about some difficult event in his life.

Thus, the Mandela effect may simply be the result of an erroneous memory formed by the person himself who convinced himself that he was right.

People tend to trust their own memories, but sometimes they can play a trick on us.