Memories Distort with Recall

Did you know that every time your brain remembers something it distorts it? Maybe you need to be less certain that you recall something exactly as it happened. Study findings at Northwestern University found that your memories are modified during recall. It’s a bit like the old “phone game” many played as children. By the time the message is transmitted around the circle, the content can be light years different from the message that was whispered into the ear of the first person. That’s because human memories human memories are always adapting. Donna Bridge, researcher and lead author of the paper on the study recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience put it this way, “If you remember something in the context of a new environment and time, or if you are even in a different mood, your memories might integrate the new information.”