Therapeutic Word of the Day: Memory

“Memories are faulty. The more senses a memory uses the better the recall. Nothing you remember is 100% fact.”

Memory is a tricky thing. Most of what we experience is forgotten. Most memories are sensory memories that last mere seconds. Quick, do you remember what you did yesterday? Where you went? What were you thinking on the drive there? What did you think as you walked through the door?

You most likely remember where you went and the reasons for it. You remember some of what you did. You do not remember much of what you were thinking or the people around you. This is because our brains are not designed to store all of our sensory data. We only store information that is important to us. Some of this information we store for a short period, others for much longer.

The problem is, even our long-term memories are faulty. While specific information, such as our names, are remembered, events that occurred distort over time. Episodic memory allows us to remember things that happened in the past. These memories are changed with the formation of new memories. New memories can override some of the information, changing the memory we thought was fact.

What does this mean? This means you do not remember as well as you think you do. No one does. Given this knowledge, give some leeway to others who do not remember events the same way as you do, as your the one who’s memories could have changed.

Nathan Driskell
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