False memories: this is how memory tricks us

No matter how hard we try, we will never be able to keep a memory completely unaltered.

"That's true because I remember it perfectly" This is a very common argument that we tend to take as valid without discussion. But then, why do different people have different memories of the same event if our memory is infallible?

The answer is clear, our memory is constantly deceiving us.. The brain takes shortcuts to save time and energy, and this leads it to make certain mistakes that can sometimes have consequences.

These "shortcuts" of the brain can lead to failures in memory and can result in and give rise to so-called "false memories".The memory of a person, which can appear both spontaneously and induced, and are characterized by a person's memories being altered or even generated from scratch, being inconsistent with respect to reality.

The phases of memory creation

To begin with, we must be aware that our memory is not as precise as we think and that, during the process, alterations can occur. In order to create a memory, different phases must occur.

1. An event occurs and our attention is focused on it to some extent.

First, an event (both internal and external) occurs and our attentional focus is centered on it (totally or partially).

2. Information processing and filtering

Once we focus on that event, we try to process it.. It is at that moment when a filtering and restructuring begins, since that objective reality will be altered by our cognitive processes, our stereotypes, preconceived ideas....

For example, if I have just seen a scary movie and I walk down the street at night with no one to accompany me, it is more likely that I will detect the shadows as possible threats.

3. Auto-completion of information

We have already processed the event and generated a certain degree of distortion, but when we "record it in our memory", gaps tend to appear, some large and some smaller.

To save us effort, our brain tends to fill in these gaps with plausible information that still fits with our preconceptions. that still fits with the preconceived ideas we had, or influenced by external sources. Once registered in the brain, that information is just as "real" as what has actually been perceived.

4. Retrieving memories

The next step is to evoke memories, that is, to retrieve that information after having stored it. There are things that our brain "erases", so we will only be able to retrieve what has been consolidated in our neural networks.

But here another great filtering and restructuring can occur. From among those memories that may already be mixed from the beginning, now part of them is brought back to "the light", and with this raw material the gaps that may be generated over time are filled in again. And again, the memories can be influenced by external sources or simply by our own ideas..

At this point, we must pay special attention to the way in which the need to evoke something originates: it can be by seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting or touching neutral elements that have some relationship between them, or it can be done by exposing ourselves to questions, for example. In the case of questions, they can be biased, so that they already condition the answer and our brain; this simple stimulus can modify the gaps in our memory unconsciously.

5. Repetition

This process of memorizing and evoking an event may occur multiple times, and this may cause it to continue to be repeated.This may cause it to continue to be altered, or there may come a time when one of the "versions" becomes fixed, taking it as absolutely true.

The appearance of false memories

With all this process, we see that there are different aspects in which our memory may not be as reliable as we thought it would be. From the moment we receive and interpret the information, through storage and finally through the exposure of the memory, it is modified. This alteration can be involuntary and spontaneous, or, on the contrary, it can be externally induced.

If an idea is repeated repeatedly, if alternative versions are presented that are similar but consistent with the facts, if a question is conditioned to force a type of answer... all this can alter the already intrinsically unreal information that we call memory.

False memories" are key to understanding the individual differences between people at the cognitive level, and being aware of them can help us understand why we remember things differently..

Understanding how memory works is a basic aspect for any psychologist, both for the resolution of interpersonal conflicts, for treating phobias, traumas, etc. For example, in the case of traumas, we may not remember something because our survival mechanism is protecting us, and this memory comes to our mind later evoked by something that is related.

This can cause a great disturbance in the person, and if the psychologist knows how the memory works, it will make an already very complex treatment easier. In the aspect of interpersonal conflicts, many times we tend to think that the other person "remembers what he/she wants" or that it is the others who distort reality, and the psychologist can give us knowledge to understand why these discrepancies occur.

Author: Iván Claver, Psychologist in Mariva Psicólogos