Inspired by [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/g2csg5/what_fact_is_ignored_generously/fnlesbi?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) comment by u/squigs, I came here to ask you: Why we can’t remember details of things and, in most of the times, we make up things to fill the gaps on our memory.
Why does our brain do this?
In: Biology
We don’t have a full understanding of how human memory works, but the leading theory in neuroscience is that each time you recall a memory, it’s becomes subject to additions or changes. This causes issues when you add in the idea of priming, or that how we are asked to remember certain situations alters our recollection. There’s a famous experiment where the subjects are shown the same collision between a red and blue car, and asked how fast the red was moving at the time of impact. The researchers will ask different subjects the question using adjectives of varying degrees (e.g. hit, smashed, crashed, slammed), and found that if they framed the question (or primed it) as if the red car was going faster, the subject recalled car moving faster. These subtle little priming changes will cause us to recall certain details in more exaggerated or altered ways, and much like a game of telephone, you move farther and farther away from the actual truth. Its like the old saying “if you say a lie enough it becomes the truth.” If you keep recalling whatever it is you’re lying about but inserting that lie into the memory, eventually it will become more strongly associated with that event that the actual truth.
Sorry that was long (and probably not eli5 level) but I’m a neuroscientist out of work and got carried away
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