#nancy loftus

[funeral]

Nancy Loftus, Memory: Surprising New Insights Into How We Remember and Why We Forget

[funeral]

When we try to remember something that happened to us, these sorts of “constructive” errors are common. We can usually recall a few facts, and using these facts we construct other facts that probably happened. We make inferences. From these probable inferences, we are led to other “false facts” that might—or might not—have been true [ . . . ] This process of using inferences and probable facts to fill in the gaps of our memories has been called “refabrication,” and it probably occurs in nearly all of our everyday perceptions. We supply these bits and pieces, largely unconsciously, to round out fairly incomplete knowledge.

Nancy Loftus, Memory: Surprising New Insights Into How We Remember and Why We Forget