Wait What actually happened?

Constructing memories can be very difficult, however most people do not realize it. When reconstructing memory we tend to pull information from various sources. These sources include the actual event, knowledge, experience, and our expectations according to Goldstein. In a sense our memories tend to be fabricated and padded. This occurrence is known as constructive nature of memory. In 1932 British psychologist Fredrick Bartlett decided to test this theory. His experiment was known as “The War of Ghosts.” During this experiment, participants read a story from a Canadian Indian Folklore. He then asked the participants to recall the story as accurately as possible. He had the participants return several times after the initial read and attempt to recall the story during longer periods of times. This process is known as repeated reproduction. The experiment had surprising result. Not only were people unable to recall the story accurately, people tend to transform the story into their own culture. The story was initially a Canadian Indian folklore, but the participants somehow transformed the details of the story to reflect British culture. This experiment proved when recalling memory people tend to add personal experiences, culture, and knowledge to memories.

When recalling memories we often fall victim to fabricating memories unintentionally. I have this one experience in particular. A few friends and I went to a bar, to hang out. We were having a great time, taking pictures and recording our experience. We all became a bit intoxicated, but still coherent.  So I called one of my friends a few days later to clarify what happened. I began telling her my version; we went to a bar and was drinking and dancing. We were flirting with guys and just dancing the night away. However she stopped me, and says it didn’t quite happen that way. Everything was fine at first, we were dancing and having a great time, however you became sleepy so went put you in the car. We even have a video of you snoring in the back seat. So in the process of recreating the memory of the night a few days ago, I began to include past experiences and unknowing alter the actual memory. This is actually a typical everyday thing, our brains retrieve memories however in the process it becomes colored and we tend to unknowingly add other life experiences to the memory causing them to blend together. This happens all time, especially when my mother and I attempt to recall my 21St birthday. Both of our accounts are just about the same except one detail. I remember us going to Bahamas breeze and I had the salmon pasta and my mom had lobster. However she remembers things slightly different and being the other way around. When we looked at a picture it turns out she was right, she had the salmon and I had the lobster. Majority of the time I visit that particular restaurant I almost always get Salmon, so my memory was retrieving that event and pieces of other times I visited the restaurant. The reason being, our memory is not a recording, you cannot press pause and play. Visual memory is stored in the back of the brain, so when retrieving memories the Prefrontal cortex guides us to find the missing pieces, which often are taking from various other memories according to Dr. Arthur Shimamura

Shimamura, Aruthur. “In the brain of the beholder.” Sussex Publishing., 4 September 2013. Web 12 Dec. 2014.< http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-the-brain-the-beholder/201309/reconstructing-memories-the-stories-we-tell>

Goldstein, B. (2011). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience, 3rd Edition. Wadsworth, Inc.

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