False memories: Why our mind reconstructs the past

The brain records experiences through the senses, but memory is not stored as an exact copy of events. Recalling a memory involves rebuilding it from fragments of images, emotions, and interpretations, producing a new version over time. Memory is regenerated each time it is accessed rather than remaining fixed. Emotions, sensations, and meanings attached to scenes strongly influence how the same event is remembered by different people. The brain also fills gaps with imagination when details are missing. Early memories are more vivid, while some objective information fades as time passes. The hippocampus supports recording of images, smells, and details, but it cannot retain them indefinitely, while the emotional core persists. Memory is influenced by personal values, identity, emotions, and tastes.

"When we experience something, the brain records the event based on what it receives through the senses. But our memory does not store the event as an exact copy of what happened; rather, it operates as a highly subjective reconstruction. When we recall a memory, the brain rebuilds it from fragments of images, emotions, and our own interpretation of the facts, all altered by the passage of time to create a new version of the event."

"Human memory is not an accurate record of what we saw or what occurred. It does not function like a hard drive. It is a re-creation the mind makes from associations in which, every time you remember something, the neurons revisit that scene, explains Jesus Molero, director of Balance Psicologia. For him, memory is not fixed; each time it is recalled, it is regenerated."

"One of the most important factors in the subjectivity of memories is the importance of the emotions, sensations, and meanings we attach to those scenes: The same event can be remembered very differently depending on how different people felt at the time and the sensations that recalling those images brings them, says Beatriz Martinez, clinical psychologist and director of Alumbra Psicologia Burgos. Another reason memories get rewritten is that the brain dislikes empty spaces and fills them in with imagination, the psychologist adds."

"When we remember something for the first time, we do so much more vividly, for example, a dinner with a friend at a restaurant the food, the tastes or the conversations. As time passes, some information is lost. The hippocampus is the region of the brain responsible for recording images, smells, and details that is, the more objective information. However, over time, that information fades because the hippocampus cannot retain it indefinitely, while the emotional core remains."

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