Originally posted by Denholm
Right, then how come do I remember sitting with my grandmother on a hospital bench at two years old when my sister was born?
To be blunt. You dont.
What you have is a memory of yourself sitting with your grandmother on a hospital bench at two years old when your sister was born. But this memory is not a true memory. It is a memory that has been created at a later stage in your life, probably very early since you feel you have had this memory all the time.
It is very easy to "create" a memory like that. All it would take is for someone to tell you what happened, and then your brain fills in the blanks, and creates a "full picture" of the event, and a year later it is impossible for you or anyone to tell the difference between a "real" memory, and one of those "fill in blank"-memories.
Let me give you an example of how this works. This is from an experiment with a school class of 7yrolds. The class is sitting in their seats, a man comes into the classroom and reads a chapter from a childrens book. Thats it, he walks in, reads the chapter, and walks out. Afterwards the kids are taken one by one into another classroom where they are interviewed.
The interviewer asks them what they thought of the man, and the story,
and then the interviewer asks "so, why do you think he tore the pages from the book, threw it to the floor and stormed out"The childrens reaction to this is first complete puzzlement. They sit there for a short while, but then they start to give answers along the lines of "maybe he was angry", "maybe he thought the story was bad"...etc.
Then a year later, another interviewer returns to the same school, and asks the same children questions about the guy who visited their classroom a year earlier.
All the children now has the same vivid memory of the crazy guy who visited their classroom, tore the book into pieces and threw them to the ground. Some of the children has added even more descripting images of how he flipped a chair on his way out, etc.
These memories are now "true" memories for the children. They will always remember how that guy came into the classroom and tore up that book.
Something similar has taken place with you and your memory of your grandmom. It could have started with your grandmom asking you when you were 4 if you remember that time when you sat together. Or it could have been your mom who told you that you sat there with your grandmom. Or you have seen a picture of you and your grandmom. Your brain then filled in the blanks, and created a memory that fits with the situation you know you have been in.
