We change our memories each time we recall them, but that doesn’t mean we’re lying
cbc.ca
We change our memories each time we recall them, but that doesn’t mean we’re lying
Our sense of who we are depends, in significant part, on our memories. And yet they’re not to be trusted. ‘What is selected as a personal memory,’ writes Professor of psychology and neuroscience Giuliana Mazzoni, ‘needs to fit the current idea that we have of ourselves.’
Will Storr • The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human, and How to Tell Them Better
Memories are not static — whenever we recall a memory, it becomes temporarily modifiable, like opening a file on a computer to edit it. During this brief window of malleability, we have the opportunity to revise the emotional meanings and predictions we've attached to past experiences.
Jhourney
Not only do we tend to rewrite our memories according to the narratives we believe in at the moment, we are also easily influenced by word choices e.g. using the phrase ‘a car that zoomed past’ versus ‘a car that drove past’ can cause us to believe different things.
Memory is less so a recording or a catalogue, but more like vapour.