Do you ever get curious about how much of your own history you actually remember right? One intriguing new study says that even your most clear personal memories may not be so accurate as you assume.
Reflect on your early years for a moment your first crush, your best high school teacher, that one-of-a-kind graduation dance. These are the recollections that contribute to your life narrative. But here's the question: how certain can you be that they actually took place the way you remember?
When Memory Plays Tricks on You
Imagine this: You're making a pickup on an online order in your old neighborhood when you run into your high school teacher unexpectedly. She greets you with a warm smile and reminds you of the time you and her daughter served on a community cleanup, receiving an award for exemplary service.
You're sure that she has to be dreaming you provide no memory at all of such a thing happening. But then the very next day, she emails you a photo taken that day. There you are, center stage, grinning with your friend.
How could you totally forget an entire day that did happen?
The Mystery of Autobiographical Memory
Psychologists refer to this autobiographical memory as the personal store of past experience that defines us. Memory, however, is far from flawless.
Professor Mark Howe of the University of London says childhood memories tend to be incomplete or inaccurate. Actually, many things from early life are never stored in long-term memory because the brain's memory systems are still in development. That's infantile amnesia, the reason we remember so little from earliest years.
Interestingly, as soon as we gain self-awareness and more sophisticated language abilities, our capacity to create and recall personal memories is greatly enhanced. Yet even then, memory is tenuous repeatedly rewritten and shaped by new experiences.
Why We Remember Some Moments and Forget Others
Studies indicate that childhood memories tend to remain in bits and pieces. Some disappear to give way to newer, more pertinent experiences. Others stick due to intense feelings or frequently repeated tales whether accurate or not.
This is best understood during what scientists refer to as the "reminiscence bump" a time from our adolescence until our early 30's when we remember the most colorful and enduring memories. Surprisingly, research has discovered that even "secondhand" memories anecdotes told by friends or relatives observe the same trend.
But this is the catch: cultural expectations can make us think we're remembering things that did not occur. Common storytelling can also distort our memories into refined but sometimes entirely false descriptions of what happened in the past.
Do Perfect Memories Even Matter?
Whether they're 100% accurate or otherwise, these memories play an essential role in your sense of self. They compose the story of your life one that you constantly revise as the years pass.
So, that teacher you didn't remember anymore. Discovering the truth might redefine how you look at yourself. Perhaps you were more engaged, more competent, or more esteemed than you know.
Ultimately, maybe the reliability of the memory is not as significant as its significance. The memories you continue with genuine or remolded are those that make you who you are today.