• Question: can 2 different memorys by mixed together like sometimes I will remember the things we did but with the wrong people?

    Asked by anon-188123 to Warren, Shanti, Pizza Ka Yee, Paul, Nadine, Alex on 5 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Warren Mansell

      Warren Mansell answered on 5 Nov 2018:

      Yes, it is called ‘recombination’. Memory exists to help you pursue your life now and in the future, so whether it is 100% accurate is not important for much of this. In fact, our brains may ‘reorganise’ our memories to use them as more effective guides for what we want.

    • Photo: Alex Reid

      Alex Reid answered on 7 Nov 2018:

      Hi yes they can. In addition to what Warren has said, in my area (sleep and memory research) we often find memories change and combine with each other during sleep (usually over multiple nights). In particular new memories can get processed into different, longer lasting memories. For example, you might not be able to remember what you had for breakfast Wednesday last week, but you have a general understanding of what a breakfast is and what it involves. An ‘average’ breakfast if you like. In memory research we call this ‘semantic memory’. Your daily experiences of having breakfast may not be truly ‘lost’, like last Wednesday’s breakfast, but instead continue to contribute to your overall concept of what breakfast is. Over time (and sleep) this concept can get more detailed and intricate. In other words one of the important ways sleep may change your memory is by combining experiences (specific memories) into overall concepts. Excellent question!

    • Photo: Paul Matusz

      Paul Matusz answered on 11 Nov 2018:

      Most certainly! Whenever we recall a memory, we already change it – like in physics – to make it fit more with our current experiences and knowledge. Memory of humans is very much unlike the memory in PCs.

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