May 23, 2025 05:32 PM
https://psyche.co/ideas/why-our-flawed-f...l-benefits
INTRO: Human memory appears to be terribly flawed. We forget. We misremember. We construct entirely fabricated memories for events that did not happen. However, as psychologists who research memory, we argue that these imperfections can often be very useful and functional. Human memory is thus perfectly imperfect – and some of its apparent flaws may in fact be features.
Decades of cognitive psychology research has conclusively demonstrated that, despite how it may feel inside your head, human memory does not work like a video camera. We do not ‘record’ events as if saving a file on a computer, to be reopened and viewed at will. In fact, our memories are reconstructed every time we recall them, leaving them open to change. These changes can, of course, have significant negative outcomes, such as arguments with a spouse or a friend about who said what.
In a forensic context, eyewitnesses are prone to misremembering what they saw at a scene or misidentifying an innocent person as the guilty party. Individuals have even been shown to provide confessions based on false memories of committing a crime, both in the lab and in real-world cases. Because misremembering can have such significant consequences, flexible memories tend to be framed as a weakness of the human condition.
However, in many other contexts, imperfect memories confer substantial benefits. Though it may sound paradoxical, forgetting is an important part of learning: you forget the unimportant in order to focus on retaining crucial information. In fact, the ability to extract the ‘gist’ from your memory of many similar events, while forgetting the individual details, is essential to the ability to learn important lessons and avoid repeating mistakes.
Our imperfect memories also have social benefits. Humans are social animals, and maintaining strong networks is essential for survival and happiness. You might be forgiven for thinking that flaws in memory can only hurt your relationships, especially if you have ever forgotten a partner’s birthday.
This isn’t always the case, though. Flawed recall can actually improve social experiences and connections, as three everyday examples will show. After learning about them, you might agree with Jane Austen that, in the context of social relationships, ‘a good memory is unpardonable.’ (MORE - details)
INTRO: Human memory appears to be terribly flawed. We forget. We misremember. We construct entirely fabricated memories for events that did not happen. However, as psychologists who research memory, we argue that these imperfections can often be very useful and functional. Human memory is thus perfectly imperfect – and some of its apparent flaws may in fact be features.
Decades of cognitive psychology research has conclusively demonstrated that, despite how it may feel inside your head, human memory does not work like a video camera. We do not ‘record’ events as if saving a file on a computer, to be reopened and viewed at will. In fact, our memories are reconstructed every time we recall them, leaving them open to change. These changes can, of course, have significant negative outcomes, such as arguments with a spouse or a friend about who said what.
In a forensic context, eyewitnesses are prone to misremembering what they saw at a scene or misidentifying an innocent person as the guilty party. Individuals have even been shown to provide confessions based on false memories of committing a crime, both in the lab and in real-world cases. Because misremembering can have such significant consequences, flexible memories tend to be framed as a weakness of the human condition.
However, in many other contexts, imperfect memories confer substantial benefits. Though it may sound paradoxical, forgetting is an important part of learning: you forget the unimportant in order to focus on retaining crucial information. In fact, the ability to extract the ‘gist’ from your memory of many similar events, while forgetting the individual details, is essential to the ability to learn important lessons and avoid repeating mistakes.
Our imperfect memories also have social benefits. Humans are social animals, and maintaining strong networks is essential for survival and happiness. You might be forgiven for thinking that flaws in memory can only hurt your relationships, especially if you have ever forgotten a partner’s birthday.
This isn’t always the case, though. Flawed recall can actually improve social experiences and connections, as three everyday examples will show. After learning about them, you might agree with Jane Austen that, in the context of social relationships, ‘a good memory is unpardonable.’ (MORE - details)