Why is our memory can not be relied

That what we feel, is largely dependent on our memory. But memories are not always to be trusted.

Memories easily change

In 2006, psychologists Chad Dodson and Lacy Krueger during the experimentI misremember it well: why older adults are unreliable eyewitnesses. We proved that our memories are easily distorted by external factors.

Dodson and Krueger showed the participants of the experiment videotape of robbery and subsequent police chase. Then they were given questions to the participants, some of whom belonged to the video only indirectly. For example, there were questions about the shootout, which is in the video was not. Then the psychologists asked participants to recall what events they have seen in the video, and which is only mentioned in the questionnaire. Most of the participants were unable to correctly reproduce the information: for example, they claimed that the video was captured in a skirmish.

false memories

Our brains are not only distorts the existing memories, but sometimes even creates false.

In one experiment,The Role of Memory Activation in Creating False Memories of Encoding Context. participants showed words. For example, the "nurse", "tablet", "disease". And then asked to name the ones they remember. Many of the "recalled" to have seen the word "doctor", though it was not in the original list.

distorted chronology

We remember badSimilarity Breeds Proximity: Pattern Similarity within and across Contexts Is Related to Later Mnemonic Judgments of Temporal Proximity. At which point there were certain events. For example, we can not remember exactly when to see someone of your friends during the day, if the meeting was not associated with strong emotions. The longer the period of time in question, the more distorted our perception of history.

What to do

when making of important decisions you should not rely too heavily on the memory of the previous experience, as our memories may reflect the past is not as precise as we think.

If any of the events of the past do not give you peace of mind, ask yourself, "What if what I remember is not really corresponds to reality? "Do this mental exercise over and over again, and the burden of the past will start to become easier.