Why Do We Remember Things Differently Over Time?

Imagine you're playing a game, and you remember the rules clearly. But later on, someone tells you a different version of how to play, now your memory is mixed up between what you originally remembered and the new rule. This happens because our brains are like sticky notes: they don’t just copy things down, but they rewrite them each time we think about something. That’s why sometimes we remember things differently over time, it's not that we're wrong; we’re just using a slightly different version of the same memory.

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Examples

You remember the last movie you watched as a great adventure, but when your friend asks about it, you say it was more of a comedy, even though you both saw the same movie.
Your brain might think you forgot your keys in the morning, but you actually left them on the kitchen counter because that's where they were always placed before.
You remember your childhood birthday as being at the park with your friends, but you later learn it was actually held at a restaurant, now both versions of the memory feel real.

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Categories: Psychology · memory· cognitive psychology· recall· forgetting· brain function