Have you ever been sure that you started the washing machine before work only to arrive home and find out that you didn’t? This is an example of a false memory. False memories are a recollection that you have of an experience or event in your life that is either not entirely true or never happened to begin with. False memories often feel like real events and may become clearer as they are fixated upon because the brain wants the memory to be true. These memories happen at all ages and with all different types of events.

My mother-in-law grew up in Detroit, Michigan in a huge three-story house with a lovely backyard for lots of room for activity, or so she thought. She only lived in the house until she was around twelve years old, but she remembered it so clearly as the luxurious house in Detroit all the way into adulthood. She used to tell people stories about the plenty of rooms that were spread out across the home, and the extra-large basement that was full of activities. These stories she would tell led her to wanting to go back and see the home again after a decade or so of not living there.

Upon arrival at her beautiful three-story childhood home, her whole childhood seemed to be something that she no longer knew. She thought that she may be at the wrong address, or even that the home was torn down and replaced. Her mother, who was with her at the time of the visit to the past, walked her through the way the home was really set up. My mother-in-law was taken aback after realizing that all the stories she spoke of and the memories she recalled were completely made up inside of her head. She was so sure that the house was exactly as she imagined it but was proven to be wrong and started to recall what her home was truly like during the visit.

After the visit to her true childhood home, she realized that there were so many other things about her childhood that she had fabricated inside her head without even realizing it. She had memories of a neighbor who had an affair that turned out to be false. She remembered her grandmother having a lovely boyfriend who she was going to marry, he turned out to have a wife the entire time he was with her grandmother. Even to this day, she continues to have these false memories but with things that are not as imaginary as they were as a child.

False memories are so very common that most people often might never even realize that they were ever even falsified. False memories can be as little as believing you turned off the oven and finding out you forgot to, and they can be as big as the memory of your childhood home being entirely different then you have remembered your entire life. False memories may not always be entirely false, but when they are it can surely be frustrating or confusing for people. False memories can happen at any age or time in someone’s life, but they are completely normal and nothing to be worried about.

Episodic memories are memories that are created from a personal experience of an event. These memories are considered episodic because they are stored temporally, allowing for one to mentally travel back in time to recall the moment these memories occurred. Episodic memories are easier to recall because of the personal experience that occurs, and they are recalled based on time of occurrence. In example, an episodic memory that I have is when I birthed my child in August of 2020. I recall this memory as I watch my son grow over time and I count the years as he grows with them. The memory of birthing my son was a very personal experience that I will never forget, and I feel as though it has just happened every single day. Another episodic memory that I have regarding my son is his first birthday that recently happened here in August of this year. I remember rushing around to make sure everything was perfect for his big day, and I remember how happy he was to be with so many people he knows and loves.

Semantic memories are memories of something that you have learned rather than something you have experienced. These memories can be learned in high school, college, and even just every day in the natural world. Semantic memories can range from facts about history to even mathematical equations and they are recalled using organizational mechanics in your brain. Regarding a semantic memory that I have regarding watching my son grow up throughout time, I think of when he began to eat solids around six months old and how I had to learn how to create foods for him based on how best to go about feeding him in a healthy way. I had to read many books and speak to many different people to learn the best recipes. Another semantic memory that I am currently working on is potty training my son, as I must learn different methods and facts that will help me potty train him.

Episodic and semantic memories can often go hand in hand with episodic memories being something that you experience at one point in time, and Semantic memories being something you learn. Each semantic memory was once an episodic memory because at one point you experienced learning that sematic memory, and that experience was episodic. In example of this, when I learned how to make food for my son I was experiencing that, so that experience was episodic at the point of learning but is now semantic as it was something I learned. Every day our episodic and semantic memories play a large role in our lives.

 E. Blanton – Blog Post 1

Childhood memories can be a leading factor in your everyday perception of many things. Perceptions are driven by different functions of the brain and there are many different aspects of specific things that can be a determining factor in how you may perceive them. As we grow, we can alter our memories to help us perceive ourselves and our experiences to be seemingly better than they were, especially if they were troubling memories. In doing so, this helps those with troubling memories to be able to get over these experiences and continue with life with a greater sense of normalcy (Jacques, 2019.)

Growing up everyone experiences things in a different light because not everyone shares a similar background. Where some things may have been troubling or challenging for some, they may not have been for others while growing up. In example, many adults that have gone to high school may tell you they miss it and would go back in a heartbeat whereas other adults will tell you they would never go back, and they are glad to be through with that chapter of their lives. This is true for me and my significant other, as he loved high school and would return endlessly and I would never make the turn back if I was given the opportunity, and that is simply because we had different experiences and these experiences help us to perceive our high school years differently than each other.

Childhood memories have influenced my perspective on many things, considering most would agree it was a rather challenging childhood for anyone to endure. One of the biggest influences my childhood memories had on my perspective differing from my significant others will always be staying in hotels. Growing up I lived in multiple hotels for months at a time, so now as an adult my mind immediately goes back to those times. Living in hotels altered my view on staying in them for trips and vacations in a rather negative light, as I prefer to avoid them to this day.

On the other hand, my significant other claims that going to stay in different hotels is still one of his favorite things to on trips and vacations. Growing up he had a stable home life and was often traveling for sports, vacations, even just to visit others – which is when he discovered his love for exploring new hotels. He would only stay in them for short periods of time, so it was often a blast for him because his childhood memories in hotels were often full of fun and joy, which changed his perception on hotels to be the opposite of mine.

Today, having a family of my own, I have found that my son tends to enjoy hotels almost as much as his father. Where I will always have my childhood memories altering my perception of hotel stays, regardless of the reason we are there, I can now say that new memories have made it feel less and less miserable to stay in them. Childhood memories will always be there to alter your perception of things, so I will make sure my child has the best memories possible so that maybe his perception for most things can be those that are happier, rather than not.

Peggy L. St. Jacques. A New Perspective on Visual Perspective in Memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2019