Remembering Makes You Forget

Right now, think about one of your favorite childhood memories. Did you do it? Chances are your brain just changed what you think happened. In a recent article from the Smithsonian Magazine, the act of trying to remember something actually changes the memory. Each time we recall something from the past, the connections between the neurons in our brain adjust. So the memory you think of the most is probably the most inaccurate. This is frightening when you consider you can't trust your own memory. Imagine the implications this has for witnesses in a criminal trial. However, the silver lining is that those witnesses could actually help themselves get over what they saw by misremembering it. Researchers have even used this "memory reconsolidation" to help patients suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It may also help the rest of us live in the present, not in the past. So hurry and comment on this post now before your brain tricks you into thinking you thought something else.