Why you should doubt your memories. | Robert Nash | TEDxBrum

Sometimes even the truth can create false memories. Join Rob Nash on a comical and thought provoking journey of how our memories can often let us down. In this post truth world, perhaps we should all remember that our memories lie to us too. Dr Robert Nash is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Aston University. Born and bred in the West Midlands, he completed his PhD at the University of Warwick in 2009, and then held positions in Lancashire and Surrey before returning to Birmingham in 2015.
Much of Robert’s research explores how people reconstruct the past in memory. In particular, he studies the reasons why people sometimes remember past events differently from how they really occurred, or come to believe things about their experiences that are false. He is particularly interested in applications of memory psychology to the legal system, exploring social psychological techniques that support memory elicitation; such as gathering valuable information without leading an eyewitness to speculate or confabulate.
www.robert-nash.com
@DrRobNash This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@ButterCookie1984]

This is such a fascinating topic!! I think some people are intimdated by it because they see themselves as being flawless and can't fathom that their fond memories might just be fantasies.

[@Marianna-js3ji]

They are not fantasies when you can prove them from documents on line.

[@vikramgupta2326]

I was hoping he was going to go into the backstory on what caused him to have the false memory of his sister's graduation and how he found out it was false....I was waiting for it!

[@mikebasil4832]

I have learned to doubt my memory. Especially this past week. Thank you, Robert, for this very important topic.

[@shraddhasrivastava5936]

I thought he would say something that I didn't already know. He didn't give any evidence or support his opinion through a theory on how memory works. There are quite a few I learned about such as constructivism where we only remember the 'meaning' we derive from an experience and forget the surface information as to what we saw and what actually happened. Since the meaning of the same experience or a situation is often different for every individual the memory of that experience will also be different which is why we argue over something that may or may not have happened in the past. We reconstruct the surrounings based on the the memory we retrieve. For example, at a friend's place even though I didn't go into her room I might remember seeing her bed since we know a room often has a bed in it. This is just a gist but it would have been better if he had elaborated on this theory or any other that he knows of.

[@Generouslife153]

I have a condition called false memory or real event ocd. It is horrible

[@BAFREMAUXSOORMALLY]

I do not trust my memories! This is why I spent a lifetime writing about events THE SAME DAY OR MINUTES AFTER THEY HAPPEN! Sometimes I even wrote at the very time they were happening! But, who gives a damn? BAFS

[@BAFREMAUXSOORMALLY]

SIR???

[@Marianna-js3ji]

How does a person know another person's memory is true or false? I am online continually finding information on my abuser.

[@precognation]

I don’t think so. But it’s a good theory if you want to gaslight a witness to a crime. “No. You THINK you saw that government official commit that crime. You didn’t “

[@Marianna-js3ji]

Your abuser was not that person. He/she was a totally other person.