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#4 2007-04-13 Don't
trust the human memory
The human brain is a fantastic 1400g of grey goo that can
accomplish just about anything and can remember a seemingly
infinite amount of data. However, in order to manage this, it
uses some smart tricks that every one really should be aware of.
One of those tricks is that our brain works with sequences and
memories are not stored as a continuous stream of data but
rather as snapshots and fragments, much like
key frames
in AVI files. These key frames are then used by a subconscious
mechanism that puts them back into a continuous stream or
complete memory of an event, when we need to play them back. The
memory, as we perceive it, is reconstructed from the key frames
and how our brain thinks it should be, based on previous
experiences. This takes place a couple of layers below our
consciousness so we think that everything we "see" in our
memory, is exactly as it happened. The more we reconstruct an
event in our minds, the more real it seems. Possibly because the
more an event is reconstructed, the more key frames are added to
the "real" memory of the event, but now the memory that the
playback mechanism is using is made up from both real memory and
reconstructed memory.
It is like this because then the brain can forget some of the
real key frames, snapshots and fragments but the playback
mechanism can still figure it out based on what real memory is
left and how we think it should be, in between.
This is why you shouldn't trust anybodies memory, not even
your own, without also taking the above into account and looking
upon the result with a little bit of doubt. Not that you should
constantly go around and thinking that people are lying to you
because mostly they are not, they are just reporting an event as
their combined real memories and unconscious memory playback
mechanism is telling them how it was which may be more or less
how it really was.
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