Tag Archives: memory construction

Memory Construction

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In class lately, we have generally been talking about how our memory works. What I found to be most interesting was when Professor Wede mentioned how the ability to forget is an evolutionary part of thinking. The concept I would like to discuss is about how memory is a constructive process in which missing pieces of information are filled in or filtered in order to make getting information out more comprehensible. In my perspective, this essentially means that we have the ability to build upon or create new memories based off of old, possibly false ones. In contrast, we also have the ability to reflect and give attention to specific parts of old memories. Whenever I catch up with one of my good friends, Katie, I have noticed that we fill in each other’s gaps about things we have done together. We could have both been in the same situation or have been together at the same place at the same time, but I almost always notice things that she has no recollection of and vice versa when reflected upon at a later time. I feel that this is a true example of importance of perspective – more specifically, perspective can also change a memory.

Once again, memory is a constructive process. Because of this, it causes things like the misinformation effect and hindsight bias. Misinformation effect is when the incorporation of misleading information into one’s memory of an event. From the examples in class, a major cause of this appears to be wording. Specific wording implies different things to different people. For me, I had frustrated with what words implied what meanings with my parents, who often speak in Chinese with me. Some meaning gets lost in translation, so when I was growing up, I would unintentionally take things the wrong way because I would remember how the Chinese word was used in one situation and apply it to another, more incorrect situation. The other problem caused by constructive processes of the memory is hindsight bias: a false belief that one could or should have predicted the outcome of an event. This happens often in everyday situation like, “Oh I knew this was going to happen…” or “I was sure she was going to get it!” This past week at my tournament for Ultimate Frisbee, I was sure that there would be multiple complete catches that ended up being drops and then a turnover.

To conclude, memories are powerful in the sense that they are not essentially always true or false. At the end of Lecture 11, I actually wondered whether I would rather have the inability to create any new memories or have the ability to never forget anything (a superautobiographical memory) as mentioned in class. So, even though our working memories are not necessarily always reliable, I have concluded that this more normal option is better than the other two extremes which make it impossible to function in daily life.

Implantation of a Memory in a Friend

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Memory is a tricky thing. It can be hard to know what memories are real, which ones are put in your head from an outside source, and which ones are blatantly false events that never happened. If a person is told a false event happened, they may initially deny it, but after a few days they may claim to remember said event as their imagination creates memories based on what was told to them. As Hyman and Billings showed us, it can be relatively easy to implant memories into a person’s head, especially when they are a trusted source, like a close friend. Or a childhood friend who was a deceptive and sassy little girl who didn’t like to be made fun of, such as myself with my friend April, whom I’ve known since before my memory developed enough to remember.

In sixth grade, I had my first kiss (scandalous, I know) from my first boyfriend in the bus loop at my middle school. April, who still was in the “boys have cooties” stage, saw the whole thing from the bus and I didn’t hear the end of it the whole bus ride home, about how boys were gross and how she couldn’t believe we had already kissed and what that meant for my ‘lip-virginity’… Oh sixth grade, such good times. So before the twenty minute bus ride was half over, I was bored of the questions and, being my sassy self, I quickly came up with a story to come back at her with. “You can’t talk, you kissed a boy in kindergarten.” A blatant lie that caused a confused and concerned look from April, who stuttered out “what – what are you talking about? I never kissed a boy in my whole life, nor do I ever want to.” So, amused by her blank look, I went on to tell her the story of how in kindergarten, Austin, an old mutual friend of ours, was playing at recess with her and dared her to kiss him, so she did; everyone knows you can’t pass up a dare, especially a double dog dare! After I described in great detail my completely made up story, she denied having any recollection of the event, as much as I insisted.

A few days passed until Monday came around, and once again I received a peck goodbye at the bus loop, and once again I got a look of disgust from my best friend. So again I brought up her kiss with Austin, adding even more details, until finally she got quiet and admitted the ultimate defeat. “Wait, oh my God, I think you’re right. I remember now, I was so nervous he would tell everyone! I made him go to the corner of the playground…” From that day on, I never got another judgmental look or eye roll for my scandalous sharing of cooties, and still to this day she believes that was her first kiss. Am I a bad friend? Of course not, I was simply performing a psychology study. I’ll tell her the truth one day. Maybe on her wedding day, in my maid of honor speech…

Hindsight Bias

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Today, as I walked in the door of my apartment from class, my roommate was singing a song that she had stuck in her head. The lyrics sang, “You’re just what I need” and after singing a few verses she promptly quizzed me to see if I could remember what movie it was from. She tried to give me a few subtle hints such as telling me that it was something I have seen a few times and that I would be mad once I hear what the answer is. Finally after going to my other roommate for help and having both of us stumped, she told us the answer, “Bring it On!”. As soon as she said this, I was instantly saying to her, “Oh my gosh how didn’t I know that!”. Immediately after saying this, I realized I had experienced hindsight bias that we had just talked about in class.

Hindsight bias is a false conviction that the result of an event was predictable. To further this idea, it essentially means that once you know something, it is really hard to imagine your life before you knew that information. In my example with my roommate, once she told me what movie the song she was singing was from, I found it impossible to see how I did not know the movie before she said it. My immediate thought after she told me was that I should have known that, yet this was just an effect of hindsight bias and the reality is I probably would not have ever known where the song was from unless she told me. Hindsight bias has a big impact on our memories and how we construct them. The next time you think to yourself, “I should have known that”, try to remember this concept and realize that maybe you actually should not have.