Our perfectly imperfect memories -
We tend to think of our memories as impressions of the past that remain fully intact, preserved somewhere inside our brains. In fact, we construct and reconstruct our memories every time we attempt to recall them. This can result in errors in our memories that can have serious consequences 鈥� as when an eyewitness identifies an innocent person as the perpetrator of a crime. However, our memories evolved this way for a reason, and the flaws support us in living our lives and maintaining our social bonds. Psychologist Ciara Greene explores how our 鈥減erfectly imperfect鈥� memory systems make us who we are 鈥� for better and for worse.
Ciara Greene is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at University College Dublin, where she leads the Attention and Memory Lab. Together with Gillian Murphy, she is the author of Memory Lane: The Perfectly Imperfect Ways We Remember.