Short-term memory can easily fool us, as a simple study recently proved. the in the examination One hundred participants were asked to look at a string of letters and remember one distinct letter and one that was spelled backwards.
About 40 percent of the participants answered correctly, but 10 percent did not remember still saying the letters without hesitation.
Why? Because our memory is shaped by our preconceptions and expectations, we think we remember what we want to see and not necessarily what actually happened.
Our memory is unreliable, especially when it is related to a recent event and influenced by others. But as Mark Otten, study author and neuroscientist at the University of Amsterdam said:
While long-term memory fades over time, we are most trusting of our short-term memory.
Memory reliability can be crucial in certain areas of life, such as justice, where witnesses can decide another person’s fate. But what if one testimony is affected by another? Thus, memory is not neutral either.
Biases can also affect our memory, in this regard Otten says,
The influence of prejudices, stereotypes, or even personal beliefs on short-term memory should be examined.
Because our expectations of people also shape our memory, for example regarding the voice and speech of the other person. In other words, memory is not perfect, even if it relates to the recent past, we should not necessarily trust our memory, it can deceive us at any time. Not directly, but completely!
