Memory shapes us. Our beliefs, thoughts, fears, rationalities – all are shaped by our past experiences in the form of memory. Memories anchor us to the past and help us make sense of the present.

False memories can form for several different reasons. In many cases, memories are encoded improperly or become corrupted due ...

Every memory you ever had is in some respects a hallucination. You can see a scene, feel a feeling, even smell a smell at a time and in a context in which they didn’t occur at all. That’s both good ...

False memories cause real problems. A false identification sends an innocent person to prison. A false childhood memory can disrupt a family. But what if there are ways to reverse false memories? What ...

Have you ever been certain that something happened, only to later realize it never did? These experiences are more common than you might think. Known as false memories, they are recollections that ...

Ever wake up convinced something happened that actually didn’t? That vivid memory of a conversation with your friend, a movie you’re sure you watched, or an event that feels completely real but never ...

It’s easy enough to explain why we remember things: multiple regions of the brain — particularly the hippocampus — are devoted to the job. It’s easy to understand why we forget stuff too: there’s only ...

Citations: Bodenhausen, Galen. 2002. Creating Memory Illusions: Gist-based recognition and the generation of false memories. Memory. (1)63-80.