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PrestigiousClient655 OP t1_irq66ll wrote

Reply to comment by dtmc in Are there any ways to differentiate between true and false memories? by PrestigiousClient655

So here are two question:

1)Is it possible to prevent false memories formation during recall?\

2)How much percentage of our memories are accurate?

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dtmc t1_irrfcyu wrote

  1. Theoretically possible? Sure. Practical, in any sense? No. We perceive reality in a biased way, so, from inception, all memories are faulty.

  2. Impossible to know. Generally, again, our memories are not 100% accurate after they leave our short-term memory -- if not before that when sensory memory (which is pretty accurate and vast, but fleeting) is encoded into short-term memory. They're good enough to serve our personal agendas (not being pejorative, just recognizing the inherent self-focused bias of memory formation), whatever that may be. I'd argue that we all have a good gist of what happened to us and when and a good deal of details, but there are lots of details that we have woven in to fit the naturally occurring gaps to make us seem more sure of a memory/detail than we actually are. It's all relative and probabilistic.

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PrestigiousClient655 OP t1_isdaxor wrote

Sorry for my late response. So do you trust your memories?

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dtmc t1_isfq61f wrote

As far as I can throw them =D

EDIT - less tongue in check of an answer: yes, but I recognize that what I remember might not be how it happened, but a lot of times, what matters is how I remember it, if that makes sense. Like a meal with a friend: I don't need to know the specifics, just need to know how it felt, etc., and even if it wasn't how I felt then, it's how I think I felt back then now, and that's cool with me.

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PrestigiousClient655 OP t1_isizeom wrote

Yes, I think trusting memory is less depressing. Few hours ago, I just read an article shows that participants tested memory of art gallery event after two years still 93-95% accurate ,The link:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337754644_The_truth_is_out_there_Accuracy_and_detail_in_recall_of_verifiable_real-world_events

But Elizabeth Loftus shows that it is easily to create false memories in participants

And I read article about HSAM people who can remember every day of life remember memory 97% accuracy

The link:https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1314373110

But evidence shows that sometimes eyewitness memory is not so reliable so actually this seems confuse

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