Sometimes we remember things differently to how they actually happened.
We all trust our own memories, but we might not be remembering things exactly as they happened.
Memories can be distorted, or even completely made up.
False memories have been manipulated to make people confess to crimes they didn’t commit.
‘Fuzzy trace theory’ helps explain where false memories come from.
In some cases, having adaptable minds could be advantageous to us, rather than looking at things objectively all the time.
Have you ever had an argument because you disagree about the way something happened? You were both there, you saw the same thing, but you remember it differently.
This happens quite a lot, because human memories are imperfect. As much as we all like to think we can trust our own minds, memories can be altered over time.
Elizabeth F. Loftus is a researcher and professor of cognitive psychology and human memory.
Tech: Our brains sometimes create ‘false memories’ — but science suggests we could be better off this way
