People "remember" events that never happened

[Still Waters]

Ever find yourself caught up in a vivid memory of an event that, you later realize with confusion, didn’t really happen the way you thought? According to new research by psychologists at the University of Warwick in the U.K., you are far from alone. 

The study demonstrated that about half of individuals will come to believe a fictional event occurred if they are told about that event and then repeatedly imagine it happening. 

More than 400 people participated in the study, led by professor Kimberley Wade.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/half-of-people-remember-events-that-never-happened/

[XenoFish]

[Bendy Demon]

How many more times do we need to be told how unreliable our minds are?

We may be ok with logics and figuring out things but when it comes to actually remembering events, we are terrible at it. Not only that but when we cannot recall anything or everything we lie and make up stuff so we won't look stupid.

This is why eyewitness/anecdotal accounts should NEVER be trusted. Our brains are just too easy to influence and manipulate (plus we love to lie and tell stories)

[EllJay]

It sounds like The Mandela Effect

Quote

The Mandela Effect was first described online in 2010, by a blogger named Fiona Broome. Broome described an experience at a convention called Dragon Con, where she discovered that others had a false memory similar to hers, which was that Nelson Mandela had died during his imprisonment in the 1980s.[1]

See, I thought Nelson Mandela died in prison. I thought I remembered it clearly, complete with news clips of his funeral, the mourning in South Africa, some rioting in cities, and the heartfelt speech by his widow.

Then, I found out he was still alive.

Fiona recounted discovering many widely held alternative memories, including those of Star Trek episodes that had never actually existed, and the death of the Reverend Billy Graham.

In 2012, another blogger named Reece, who wrote on the Blogger site Woodbetweenworlds, expressed a similar idea, but this time about the spelling of a popular children’s book series, The Berenstain Bears. [2]

And then I saw the book covers. The ones in the squiggly bubble letters from the childhood. The ones I saw a hundred times a month from the formative ages of 5 to 9. The ones that every 20-something in the world will tell you read “Berenstein Bears”.

Except they don’t read “Berenstein”. They read “Berenstain”. 

http://mandelaeffect.com/major-memories/

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-mandela-effect

 

20 Examples Of The Mandela Effect That’ll Make You Believe You’re In A Parallel Universe

List Of 5 Mandela Effect Examples

 

[XenoFish]

If there ever was a good excuse for mis-remembering things it's the mandela effect.

[Just_Seeking]

Me, my brother, and a friend get together telling old stories. The friend says he was there for about everyone. Not true at all he'll even go as far as telling a tale that is not his. It's kinda sad we use the excuse he is still trying to find himself.

[geraldnewfie]

its the Mandela effect :P something messed up with space and time im guessing

[Unfortunately]

The title of this article doesn't accurately represent the statistics presented. 30% is hardly 'Most of us' (as stated on the UM homepage) and definitely not 'half'. Although the concept is utterly fascinating.

Edit: 'Still Water's title is much more accurate , only just saw it as I was posting a comment on the homepage article that lead me here.

Edited December 12, 2016 by Unfortunately

[XenoFish]

This is actually a really good thread. Because we can look back at it whenever a story pops up with,"This happened X years ago". 

[NightScreams]

6 hours ago, XenoFish said:

6 hours ago, XenoFish said:

If there ever was a good excuse for mis-remembering things it's the mandela effect.

 

It's interesting that Berenstain Bears is how it's spelled but someone found an old tape that clearly shows it as Berenstein Bears. Certainly makes one think. I wonder what the creator/owner of the franchise has to say about it? Perhaps there were some misprints or copy right infringements where it got misspelled or it's just photoshopped?

Probably photoshopped. Most of the examples linked by OP, I believe are due to common uses of images and words that we attribute to other things usually because many don't pay attention.

[HandsomeGorilla]

Breaking News: people are full of ****.

[NightScreams]

3 minutes ago, Not Your Huckleberry said:

Breaking News: people are full of ****.

This doesn't really demonstrate that people's stories based on a memory is completely false but rather a minute detail within the story 'may' be false. Someone sees a ghost that had eyes and maybe it didn't have eyes but doesn't really discount them altogether. Plus this demonstrates that only 30% falsely recalled something. I don't think this warrants an excuse to discredit people's stories, that's why you ask lots of questions.

[seeder]

3 minutes ago, Not Your Huckleberry said:

Breaking News: people are full of ****.

 

Not quite. When I was a kid it was coming up to fireworks night, Nov 5th in the UK. WE had a big box of fireworks that I couldnt stop looking at.....My mum then tried to warn me about the dangers of fireworks.....the warning went like this:  "Now son, imagine you and your best friend Robert. took a firework out the box, sneaked off down the garden....and your friend held the firework while you lit it...now YOU were the good one and stepped back several meters, but your friend didnt...and when that firework goes off....your friend is covered in hotter than hell sparks from that firework, his clothes catch alight, he loses his hair, his skin gets burnt and goes black...he may even lose a few fingers"

In my mind...I...just like everyone reading this....had formed the distressing image of my burnt mate screaming and burning....with no hair and black skin....

Im 50 now....must have been 45 years ago my mum said that.... BUT I still remember those images now...... and it never even happened

What is actually going on is....the fact the brain finds it hard to distinguish a created/imagined/daydreamed event..... from a real event... and this is true...

 

[HandsomeGorilla]

Yea, sorry, I was being pretty flippant. Didn't mean any harm. 

[Kismit]

6 hours ago, Just_Seeking said:

Me, my brother, and a friend get together telling old stories. The friend says he was there for about everyone. Not true at all he'll even go as far as telling a tale that is not his. It's kinda sad we use the excuse he is still trying to find himself.

He has probably heard the stories and has a memory of a similar event. History has taken its toll and his mind has combined the two.

Edited December 12, 2016 by Kismit

[seeder]

12 minutes ago, seeder said:

What is actually going on is....the fact the brain finds it hard to distinguish a created/imagined/daydreamed event..... from a real event... and this is true...

 

 

And another example of the brain doing this..... I once woke up to a sharp pain and immediate nosebleed.....and one hell of an angry GF.   But why did she elbow my face in the middle of the night?  Why so angry with me?  Well, it turned out Id kicked her a few times....and punched the back of her head....and her back in general.  But why?

Yes...like a lot of men....my dreams were sometimes about fighting.... this one was so vivid in my dreamy mind....it actually made me start kicking and punching ....while I was fast asleep.....literally.... "I" didn't know it wasnt real.. "I" didnt know I was dreaming....nor did my body, coz it acted out while I was DREAMING!  The poor girl had been kicked and punched by a totally asleep seeder!!

But my bloody nose when waking was real....poor girl

 

[AudioAndroid]

This is something my brother and I were just discussing, I have come across two events that do not belong or I don't remember happening. The first is this new scene in Forrest Gump where Forest is staying at the Watergate hotel and calls the front desk about people being up late at night with flashlights running around in a room keeping him up. Of course this is the break-in at the Democratic National Committee but I have watched Forrest Gump a million times on DVD and Blu-ray and all deleted scenes but just until recently this scene appeared, it doesn't belong. Next is the death of lead front man Scott Weiland of STP. He didn't die in 2015 in fact I remember seeing a video recorded in 2016 about him getting out of rehab and reuniting with STP, I remember how healthy he looked with all the weight he had put on he even made comments about Donald Trump running for president, but this video is no where to be found and their is noway I missed the death of the main front man for STP, it's one of my favorite bands but it must of happened this is so strange.

Edited December 12, 2016 by AudioAndroid

[Michelle]

The accuracy of my memories was thankfully reinforced a few years ago. I remembered vacations and family reunions that my older brother and sister didn't attend. Everyone else in my immediate family, who were witnesses, had passed away. I couldn't find any record of a few places that stood out in my mind on the internet. One of them was a town in Florida. This one woman owned half of the town it seemed, and her name was the exact same as mine. She owned huge restaurants, marinas and hotels all over the place with her/my name everywhere. I couldn't have been more than six years old. I was beginning to think they were false memories until I had 74 old home movies put on two CD's after mother passed away. It was all there!

I hadn't lost my mind after all! 

[XenoFish]

56 minutes ago, seeder said:

 

And another example of the brain doing this..... I once woke up to a sharp pain and immediate nosebleed.....and one hell of an angry GF.   But why did she elbow my face in the middle of the night?  Why so angry with me?  Well, it turned out Id kicked her a few times....and punched the back of her head....and her back in general.  But why?

Yes...like a lot of men....my dreams were sometimes about fighting.... this one was so vivid in my dreamy mind....it actually made me start kicking and punching ....while I was fast asleep.....literally.... "I" didn't know it wasnt real.. "I" didnt know I was dreaming....nor did my body, coz it acted out while I was DREAMING!  The poor girl had been kicked and punched by a totally asleep seeder!!

But my bloody nose when waking was real....poor girl

 

On the flip side of this it's a lot like how I invite people to test out psychosomatic responses. Close your eyes and imagine a spider walking up your arm. With enough repeated effort and you'll feel that spider, but it's not real. Purely imagined. Same with thinking about the smell, taste, and texture of a food you love. You might catch a phantom smell or taste it. To me the mind can do some amazing things.

If we really put thought to it. How much of our past tragedy was as bad as it really was? Was the event terrible itself or had we built it into a monster?

 

[Kismit]

1 hour ago, seeder said:

 

And another example of the brain doing this..... I once woke up to a sharp pain and immediate nosebleed.....and one hell of an angry GF.   But why did she elbow my face in the middle of the night?  Why so angry with me?  Well, it turned out Id kicked her a few times....and punched the back of her head....and her back in general.  But why?

Yes...like a lot of men....my dreams were sometimes about fighting.... this one was so vivid in my dreamy mind....it actually made me start kicking and punching ....while I was fast asleep.....literally.... "I" didn't know it wasnt real.. "I" didnt know I was dreaming....nor did my body, coz it acted out while I was DREAMING!  The poor girl had been kicked and punched by a totally asleep seeder!!

But my bloody nose when waking was real....poor girl

 

Seeder, i think you and my husband could be related. it's a very rude awakening in the middle of the night when somone knees and kicks you as hard as they can and keeps on snoring.

Somedays it's like he is practising parkour.

[seeder]

26 minutes ago, Kismit said:

Seeder, i think you and my husband could be related. it's a very rude awakening in the middle of the night when somone knees and kicks you as hard as they can and keeps on snoring.

Somedays it's like he is practising parkour.

 

Thankfully it was the only time it happened..and she wasnt 'really' hurt.... well, maybe in the moment...plus logically..its pretty hard to swing a punch while fast asleep, while laying down...under the heavier winter duvet..... and sleeping in the 'spoons' position... with a target you can only see in the dream...

since that time tho....Ive done other strange stuff while asleep....another GF kept asking me what I was giggling about in bed? She said it happened a few nights a week... she would hear me giggle, and for a while too! She just said it made her laugh too....

[Nnicolette]

I (along with the majority of people i have asked) still clearly remember reading berenstein bears as a kid and asking about te pronunciation. The BerensTain labels look odd and new to me.

Noticing that and many other mandela effects already made me figure that reality is not quite as solid and constant in nature as is generally presumed.

[Unfortunately]

I do not have too many childhood memories I am still able to recollect, but I have experienced the issue where someone avidly states they were present in certain circumstances when I remember clearly that they were not. Does this stem primarily from an innate need to be included? I'm sure there are exceptions but does it perhaps come from some form of mental insecurity in the minds of people such as this? (Merely a speculation on my part )

Definitely a curious conundrum.

[SHaYap]

My most recent personal experience was that one day I woke up and still half asleep had that inexplicable persistence to rummaging for my 'iPad and iPhone'

Went on for about a half hour and then I realised 'What the hell ?'

I've never had one or the other before and even if I did have the money I'd never buy one, the only thing I had that was apple was an iPod 3 Gb which I gave away to a teen for her birthday present.

Took me another hour or so till I realised I was dreaming about looking for those things which I remembered from another dream that I had about having those things ... yeah I was confused for a while too ... the dream was someone bought me an iPad and an iPhone which I didn't want, and the recent dream was myself looking for them because I wanted to give them away ...

~

[White Unicorn]

19 hours ago, Ryu said:

How many more times do we need to be told how unreliable our minds are?

We may be ok with logics and figuring out things but when it comes to actually remembering events, we are terrible at it. Not only that but when we cannot recall anything or everything we lie and make up stuff so we won't look stupid.

This is why eyewitness/anecdotal accounts should NEVER be trusted. Our brains are just too easy to influence and manipulate (plus we love to lie and tell stories)

It's the reason that when you have a crime witnesses, they aren't supposed to talk to each other and write what they saw immediately. 

As far as making up stuff, gossip media etc induces false memories because they fill in details true or not and spread stories. 

I always remember the class where a professor demonstrated to us why we can't believe hear say or trust memory.

We had a little written story and told it to the first person in private , who told it by memory to the third person on so on to about 15 students in total. The last  person told the story to the whole class and the first read the original. We laughed but it really wasn't funny. You could hardly tell it was the same story except for who it was about! Every one filled in details they didn't really remember to next person and the story got way out of hand. The original meaning of the story was totally lost.

This is why photos and journaling events immediately help trigger and save the true memories. 

My elderly mother tells some events like she was there when only my father and I were there. Seems she liked to tell the story so much she really thought she was there after some 40 years. I reminded her when she was reminiscing that she wasn't, and she said OMG you're right.