False memories: this is how memory deceives us

"That is true because I remember perfectly" It is a widely used argument and one that we usually take as valid without discussion. But then, why do different people have different memories of the same event if our memory is infallible?

The answer is clear our memory constantly deceives us. The brain takes shortcuts to save time and energy, and this leads it to make certain mistakes that can sometimes have consequences.

These "shortcuts" of the brain can cause failures in memory and give rise to so-called "false memories", which can appear both spontaneously and induced, and are characterized by the fact that memories of a person are altered or even generated from nothing, being inconsistent with respect to the reality.

• Related article: "Types of memory: how does the human brain store memories?"

The phases of creating memories

To begin with, we must be aware that our memory is not as accurate as we think and that, during the process, alterations can occur. In order to create a memory, different phases must occur.

1. For an event to occur and our attention to be focused on it to some extent

First, an event (both internal and external) occurs and our attentional focus is focused on it (in whole or in part).

2. Information processing and filtering

Once we look at that event, we try to process it.. It is at that moment when a filtering and restructuring begins, since that objective reality is going to be altered by our cognitive processes, our stereotypes, preconceived ideas...

For example, if I have just seen a scary movie and I am walking down the street at night with no one with me, I am more likely to detect shadows as possible threats.

3. Information auto-completion

We have already processed the event and generated some degree of distortion, but by “recording it in our memory” holes often appear, some large and some smaller.

To save us effort, our brain tends to fill in those gaps with credible information that it continues to square with the preconceived ideas that we had, or influenced by external sources. Once registered in the brain, that information is just as "real" as what has actually been perceived.

• You may be interested in: "Cognitive Psychology: Definition, Theories, and Main Authors"

4. recovery of memories

The next step is to evoke memories, that is, recover that information after having stored it. There are things that our brain “deletes”, so we can only recover what has been consolidated in our neural networks.

But here another big filtering and restructuring can happen. From among those memories that from the beginning can be mixed, now part of them, and with this raw material the gaps that can be generated over time are filled in again. And again, the memories They can be influenced by external sources or simply by our ideas.

At this point, we must pay special attention to the way in which the need to evoke something originates: it can be by seeing, listen, smell, taste or touch neutral elements that have some relationship between them, or it can be done by exposing ourselves to questions, For example. In the case of questions, they can be biased, so that they already condition the answer and our brain; this simple stimulus can unconsciously modify the gaps in our memory.

5. Repetition

This process of memorizing and evoking an event can occur multiple times., and this may cause it to continue to change, or there may come a time when one of the "versions" remains fixed, considering it absolutely true.

The appearance of false memories

With all this process, we see that there are different aspects in which our memory may not be as reliable as we thought. From the moment we receive and interpret the information, through storage and finally through the exposure of the memory, it is modified. Said alteration can be involuntary and spontaneous, or, on the contrary, it can be induced externally.

If an idea is repeated repeatedly, if similar alternative versions are exposed but consistent with the facts, if it is conditioned a question to force a type of answer... all this can alter the already intrinsically unreal information that we call memory.

The "false memories" are keys to understanding the individual differences between people at a cognitive level, and being aware of it can help us understand why we remember things differently.

Understanding how memory works is a basic aspect for any psychologist, both for resolving interpersonal conflicts, for treating phobias, traumas, etc. For example, in the case of trauma, we may not remember something because our survival mechanism is protecting us, and that this memory comes to our mind later evoked by something that is related.

This can cause a great disturbance in the person, and if the psychologist knows how memory works, he will make a very complex treatment easier. In the aspect of interpersonal conflicts, many times we tend to think that the other "remembers what he wants" or that they are the Others distort reality, and the psychologist can give us knowledge to understand why these things happen. discrepancies.

Author: Iván Claver, Psychologist at Mariva Psychologists