Showerthought: Did my brain gaslight me about that 'core memory' from age 4?

I grew up swearing I remembered my 3rd birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, complete with the animatronic band playing off-key. But my mom showed me a photo last month and I was wearing a totally different outfit than what I 'remembered.' So either she swapped the photos or my brain just built the whole scene from stories she told. On one hand, it's wild how unreliable memory can be, and that makes me question other childhood stories I hold onto. On the other hand, maybe the feeling is what matters more than the exact details? Has anyone else caught their own memory straight up lying to them about a big moment from your past?

3 comments

3 Comments

robins831mo ago

Man, that hits way too close to home. I got into a whole argument with my sister once about where we buried our cat as kids, both of us swearing up and down it was different spots in the yard. Turns out neither of us was right because my dad finally told us the cat ran away and we never buried anything. It's weirdly comforting and unsettling at the same time how our brains just fill in the blanks with whatever feels right.

blair_taylor321mo ago

Exactly my buddy's brain did the same thing to him. He was dead serious for years that he remembered his dad taking him to see some Dodgers game when he was like 5, complete with the smell of hot dogs and the weird echo in the bathroom. Then his dad casually mentioned they'd never actually gone to a game together, they just watched it on TV in the living room with the windows open. Somehow his brain mixed the TV broadcast audio with the summer air coming through the screen and built this whole memory of being at the actual stadium. He was shook for like a week after that, questioning every single memory he had from childhood. But honestly I feel like our brains are just trying to help us hold onto good feelings even if the facts are a little fuzzy.

simonp761mo ago

I gotta call a tiny thing out @blair_taylor32 - the Dodgers broadcast on TV back then didn't usually have that weird bathroom echo, so your buddy's brain probably spliced in some other memory of a public restroom. Still wild how our minds just Frankenstein together moments like that though.