Do you remember the time?

Probably not. If you do it seems you could very well be mistaken. Not only do we remember wrong, sometimes we remember things that didn't even happen.

According to this article,

thefederalist.com...

Science Shows People Regularly Remember Things That Didn’t Happen

In 1975, a young woman was brutally raped in her home while she was watching TV. Shortly thereafter, she identified her assailant as Dr. Donald Thomson. On the basis of her compelling and apparently credible testimony, Thomson was arrested and charged despite having an irrefutable alibi.

In an ironic and exculpatory turn of events, authorities discovered that, prior to the attack, the woman had been watching Thomson on live TV discussing the inaccuracies of eye-witness testimony and simply confused his face with that of her rapist’s. As bizarre as this incident may appear, false memories in concert with compelling but false testimony is often the rule rather than the exception.

It also states strong emotions don't help,

Strong Emotions Don’t Negate False Memories Contrary to popular belief, the emotional content of memories leads to a “breakdown of the relationship between accuracy and confidence” such that each retelling of a stressful event increases the likelihood that false memories will be created in concert with increasing confidence in those fictional accounts. For example, after studying thousands of battlefield interviews, the author of “The Longest Day,” Cornelius Ryan, wrote “one fact stands out more than any of the others—the very worthlessness of human testimony unless it can be substantiated by documents supporting the testimony.”

How sure can you be of the things you "know" if you can't be sure of the things you remember?

Sorry If I posted it in the wrong place.

Every memory you have ever had is chock-full of errors. I would even go as far as saying that memory is largely an illusion.

This is because our perception of the world is deeply imperfect, our brains only bother to remember a tiny piece of what we actually experience, and every time we remember something we have the potential to change the memory we are accessing.

blogs.scientificamerican.com...

The more I look into this the scarier it becomes.

“My top 5 take-home messages on memory:

1. Memory does not work like a video camera, accurately recording all of the details of witnessed events. Instead, memory (like perception) is a constructive process. We typically remember the gist of an event rather than the exact details.
2. When we construct a memory, errors can occur. We will typically fill in gaps in our memories with what we think we must have experienced not necessarily what we actually did experience. We may also include misinformation we encountered after the event. We will not even be consciously aware that this has happened.
3. We not only distort memories for events that we have witnessed, we may have completely false memories for events that never occurred at all. Such false memories are particularly likely to arise in certain contexts, such as (unintentionally) through the use of certain dubious psychotherapeutic techniques or (intentionally) in psychology experiments.
4. There is no convincing evidence to support the existence of the psychoanalytic concept of repression, despite it being a widely accepted concept.
5. There is currently no way to distinguish, in the absence of independent evidence, whether a particular memory is true or false. Even memories which are detailed and vivid and held with 100 percent conviction can be completely false.”

#5 should scare us all.

blogs.scientificamerican.com...

For me this phenomenon shows up the best when I am BSing with old friends about the good all days. I can bring up something that happened or a story from years ago. Occasionally a couple of them will tell me that I remembered it wrong .

I can’t help but feel sorry for how bad their memories have gotten.

a reply to: Aallanon

I routinely see cases where there are more than one witness and they all have varying versions of the events. I'd point out that this is as true for police officers as it is for us regular plebs.

a reply to: Fallingdown

I know what you mean . LOL

a reply to: Aallanon

All kidding aside selective memory happens to everybody. But just about everybody I know that misremember’s something is exceedingly hard to convince that their memory isn’t correct. Most people just dig in their heels.

Edit; no politics sorry

a reply to: Aallanon

I think the article is right, otherwise you would have remembered to mention that your article has a political agenda.

It made the Mandela effect not only possible, but entirely believable for a great many people.

a reply to: DictionaryOfExcuses

I was trying to steer clear of politics on this.

I have a semi eidetic memory, a great gift but also a curse.

I can remember images so vivid that some psychologists say i could possibly have PTSD. I remember in 1992 when my father told me my mother had passed, i can remember where I was, what i was doing, and where I lived at the time. Sometimes i have to slap myself in the head to avoid the flashbacks of my troubled past.

my memory is not infallible, but not faulty. San Marino grand prix 1994, Ayrton Senna's brakes failed and I can remember the collision with the wall...some people have the gift, overs don't.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

Few have it, most don't

originally posted by: Aallanon
a reply to: DictionaryOfExcuses

I was trying to steer clear of politics on this.

What utter bs.

The article you posted talks about Ford.

Did you catch this bit?

Importantly, none of these facts suggest that Ford is lying. Quite the contrary; the evidence suggests that she sincerely believes she is telling the truth. For example, we were told that she passed a polygraph. This suggests she honestly believes her testimony to be true.

I thought you q muppets had decided she was lying all along.

a reply to: Chadwickus

Well if it isn't my personal little troll, misrepresenting the facts as usual. I purposfully left that part out and didn't post this in the mud pit to avoid a political debate. I think the information is interesting on a stand alone basis.

Is that OK with you? Maybe I will check with you before I post anything else, will that make you happy?

ETA, we Q muppets were right!

a reply to: Aallanon

Trying not to keep it political eh?

Don’t lie. All you contribute here is politically motivated.

Your entire history here has been to push a right wing agenda.

Oh, right you just suddenly decided to look into how fallible people’s memories are, it’s just a coincidence that the Ford Kavanaugh nonsense is happening....and that you chose an article written about the Ford Kavanaugh nonsense.

a reply to: Chadwickus

You think you are so smart. You looked up my posting history? What a sleuth you are. Did you know I have been posting here as long as you? I used to go by a different name but i’m Sure you knew that.lol.

What happened to you? You used to contribute to these boards now all you do is snipe and hurl insults.

Since your an expert on everything, I’m sure you know sliding and deraiing and personal insults are against the T&C so at least play by the rules.

ETA don't call me a liar.

ETA 0.2 I think your Avatar has gone to your head

originally posted by: Chadwickus
a reply to: Aallanon

Trying not to keep it political eh?

Don’t lie. All you contribute here is politically motivated.

Your entire history here has been to push a right wing agenda.

Oh, right you just suddenly decided to look into how fallible people’s memories are, it’s just a coincidence that the Ford Kavanaugh nonsense is happening....and that you chose an article written about the Ford Kavanaugh nonsense.

a reply to: Aallanon

Calling a spade a spade is not an insult.

Don’t be such a snowflake.

Just admit this has a political slant, instead of pretending it doesn’t.

That is lying.

a reply to: Chadwickus

Listen, stop calling me names and stop assuming you know me. You don't!

a reply to: Aallanon