Carter Gates -- The link between hindsight and memories

December 7, 2022

In class, Dr. Redick talked about the process or storing memories and what happens when we recall them. In psychology, you discuss how, over time, your brain networks change, which in turn could cause you to alter the memory in some way when you later recall it. An example of this is when you are recalling a memory from the past from when you were going to a party. In hindsight, you know you made a mistake and should have stayed from, but at the time, you had no clue that it was a bad idea. If you think to yourself, "Looking back, that was a really bad idea," that could become part of the story when you tell it to others now. This changes the story itself because you added a detail that was not there before, which is the magic of hindsight bias. I could probably bet you that almost everyone has had this happen to them at one point or another, whether they realize it or not. This is part of the beauty of hindsight, many people do it unintentionally and do not really know or realize they are changing their memories. Many people also believe they felt this way at the time of the memory, whether they actually did or not might as well be a mystery. However, it is also important to note that a memory is slightly altered almost every time you recall it because you might add details that were not there before or remember something you did not before. Our memory is something that is always changing, and there is still things we do not know about it.