Never Rely 100% on Your Memory, it Will Betray You

You may think what you remember is 100% accurate you are prepared to completely rely on your recalled information in an argument or presentation, but before you seriously hurt anybody consider this: scientists have long ago established that in fact memory is highly fallible, and most of the time the information we recall is inaccurate.

Here you are having a pleasant conversation with your friend, then something happens, you disagree, your friend recalls one thing, and you are 100% sure the thing to be quite the opposite. Of course neither of you is prepared to give in, you are the fortunate one to behold the truth, and you will not stop until you prove your point. You are being impolite and obnoxious. Even if you are right, why wouldn't you let your friend get away and save his/her face? Tell them you are not sure about the facts, and you have to look it up. A little white lie can go a long way, lying is the oil that greases our interactions with others and lets us maintain friendly social relationships.

We are overly optimistic about the accuracy of our memories, which often makes us look like fools. Our memory is highly fallible. Do we learn? Memory is an interpretation, the raw sensory data is largely discarded, the transformation from raw data to interpretation occurs automatically and outside volition. We do not see what we see; we see what we think we see our consciousness is presented with an interpretation, not the raw data. Numerous studies have shown that memory changes over time.

As we recall an event over and over, we drop details from earlier versions and add new details to later versions. All things being equal, accuracy declines with each new recall. Memory is a reconstruction, not a record. When we recall something we invoke the most applicable script and may unconsciously fill in missing information in order to complete the reconstruction.

Will you put your money where your mouth/memory is?