Our memory is perceived by us as a database in our heads that can never go wrong.
New evidence paints a different picture, and our memory may not be as consistent or even as true as believed.

Memory: The Hard Disk Of The Mind

In the game Chinese Whispers, where a certain message is passed on from person to person, it is almost always proved that the final message is completely different from the original.
The same ‘chain’ effect is happening in our memories, where certain tiny details may not be what were true, but what we wish were true, or perceived to be true.

The Game 'Chinese Whispers'

Social experiments show that people in general are stubborn about the accuracy of their memories, which may have mutated or even changed beyond recognition.
So many tiny, false details have been added to the original memory over time, that one theory says that the mere act of recalling a certain memory takes it out of the ‘freezer’ and puts it back, changing its shape and form a bit.
The result is that it is highly unlikely that our treasured memories are completely accurate.

Memories Are Malleable

Storytellers form a different memory of a story they are reciting, due to mutation in how differently it is told to audiences each time, and how much of an artistic licence is used to change certain details of the story.
Over time the changed or mutated story seems like the original one in the storyteller's mind, something known as the Audience-Tuning Effect.

The Audience-Tuning Effect

Even our most treasured memories can gradually change over time.

The Audience-Tuning Effect

Are memories reliable? Expert explains how they change more than we realise

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