We don’t remember every single thing that has ever happened to us. There’s a mistaken belief that it’s all in there somewhere and that if we could only properly and efficiently access the memory files then we could relive each instant of our lives. Our brains are too smart for this. Our brains fill in cracks. The simplest analogy is our eyesight - there’s too much going on in the world and it’s happening too fast so our brains fill in the gaps. There are plenty of studies done on people who have had retinal tears or an optical disease that deprives them of a chunk of their eyesight but they’re unaware of this - the brain combines the images of both eyes and glosses over the missing visuals so that the person manages well enough.
What’s even more interesting is that our brains seem to screw around with our memories to make them conform to our current perception of ourselves. For instance, if you were cruel to an animal long ago and you’re no longer cruel to animals that sets up a dissonance in your head. You’re uncomfortable with the fact that you were cruel. It’s incompatible with the image you have of yourself so your brain begins to subtly alter this memory so that you think you didn’t behave the way you actually did. Often this dis-remembering leads to some outrageous and easily disproved lies. We look at people who have been caught making something up with our mouths agape and our eyes agog. “How could he/she think she could get away with that bald-faced lie?” we think. It very well may be that the person isn’t lying but rather listening to the crap his/her brain has made up.
Some people, of course, are actually lying. There are lying liars out there.
Our brains have a lot going on. The speculation is that some of this rewriting of history is a way to make sure that we don’t go absolutely batshit crazy.
“I HATE being called a liar. Unless I’m telling a lie or I’ve just told a lie or I’m about to tell a lie.” Homer Simpson
No comments:
Post a Comment