Memory Myths

What do you think our memory is like? Do you think that memories are permanent and they stay the same as the first time you encode them? Well, the truth is not❌, our memory is not static. It is reconstructive and malleable. Today we would like to debunk the common misbeliefs about memory!

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Simon and Chabris (2011) conducted a survey to assess the general public’s common incorrect beliefs about the properties of memory. The findings suggested a discrepancy between popular belief and scientific empirical evidence about the properties of memory. Below are the five main misconceptions the general public has about human memory!

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Statement 1: The testimony of one confident eyewitness is enough evidence to convict a defendant of a crime

Myth 1: Eyewitness memory is sufficient for conviction

Eyewitness memory refers to an individual’s previous recollection of experience on a specific event typically related to criminal events such as robbery. Eyewitness memory plays an important key factor in the role of crimes investigation. Eyewitness memory is often unreliable and insufficient to be the sole evidence for a conviction. It tends to become biased over time by the question being asked at the time of retrieval. There are other factors that affect the accuracy and completeness of eyewitness memory. For example, the weapon focus effect suggests that the presence of a weapon causes witnesses to failing to recall details about the criminal. Due to its’ limitations, it has often led to wrongful convictions of innocent people. Hence, eyewitness memory is NOT sufficient for a conviction.

Statement 2: Human memory works like a video camera, accurately recording the events we see and hear so that we can review and inspect them later

Myth 2: Human memory = video camera

Our memory does NOT work like a video camera that records each event that we experience or it will playback what has been “recorded when we try to recall them. In fact, every time we recall a piece of memory it either adds new information or reduces information about that memory. As suggested by Elizabeth Loftus, a famous psychologist who conducted several studies about human memory, human memory is not static, it is reconstructive and malleable. She mentioned that: “When we remember something, we are taking bits and pieces of experience - sometimes from different times and places - and bringing it all together to construct what might feel like a recollection but is actually a construction.”

Statement 3: Once you have experienced an event and formed a memory of it, that memory does not change

Myth 3: Memory stays the same

The memories we had are not static nor permanent. They do not stay the same, they change. For instance, when we recall less of a particular piece of memory it will be forgotten. Whereas, when we actively recall a particular memory it can be stretched and reconstructed each time we recall.

Statement 4: Hypnosis is useful in helping witnesses accurately recall details of crimes

Myth 4: Hypnosis helps in recalling the memory

Hypnosis is a suggestive technique that seems to be helpful in helping witnesses to recall details of crimes, but it has a risk of implementing false memory, which is a memory that people believe is an accurate representation of past events and experiences which in reality did not happen!

Statement 5: People always notice when something unexpected enters their field of view, even when they are paying attention to something else

Myth 5: We notices events that we did not pay attention to

Our attention has limitations and “We only remember what we attended to”. In the invisible gorilla experiment, participants failed to notice the gorilla when they were focusing on the people passing the basketball. This suggested that when our attention is being occupied with one task, we would miss out on information even the obvious one. Likewise, we should not be on the phone 📵 while driving because we are unaware of the surroundings, especially when we do not pay attention to it.


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