For example, if you remember going to the beach as a child but aren’t sure if that particular memory is real or false, look for pictures from the trip or things you might have brought back, like seashells.
Keep in mind that neither of your memories are perfect, so this isn’t a fool-proof strategy.
For example, if you can remember details about going to a fair as a child, like how bright and hot it was, the sweet taste and stickiness of cotton candy, the view from the top of the Ferris wheel, and the smell of popcorn, your memory might be real. This might also be useful in determining the reliability of eyewitness testimony. People who remember sensory details about the event are more likely to be remembering correctly.
There are two types of memory: verbatim and gist. Verbatim memories are precise and detailed, while gist memories are fuzzier recollections. Both types of memory actually increase as you age. [7] X Research source “Fuzzy trace theory” refers to people’s false memories that come about from related ideas from a gist memory. For instance, if you’re given a list of words and asked to remember them, you might be certain that “hot” was on the list, when it actually contained similar words like scorching, bright, heat, sun, and so on.
Unfortunately, this happens with police officers during interrogations and can lead to false accusations and even false confessions from innocent people. It’s also common during trials when prosecutors ask leading questions to eyewitness and jurors misremember eyewitness testimony containing those details, rather than an attorney implying them.
The same is true in people who tend to fantasize a lot. This could mean that some of your most emotional memories aren’t real memories. Having a good imagination or a strong sense of fantasy isn’t a bad thing! Don’t let the possibility of false memories stifle your creativity. Nearly all people have false memories, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Additionally, people with psychopathy like borderline personality disorder have more false memories. [11] X Research source There’s some evidence that people undergoing therapy have falsely recalled traumatic events, including childhood abuse and sexual abuse. This is more likely if the therapist uses hypnosis, visualization, or suggestion, which indicates that mental health professionals should be particularly cautious about the way they seek to help patients recover repressed memories. [12] X Trustworthy Source PubMed Central Journal archive from the U. S. National Institutes of Health Go to source People who misremember childhood events, particularly trauma and abuse, that actually didn’t occur, are said to have False Memory Syndrome. [13] X Research source
