PSY 352
Memory Errors in Real Life
PSY 352: Cognitive Psychology
Our brain is a crazy contraption that was created but can sometimes play tricks on us.
There are times we are sure we did something when we did not. In some cases, a person can have
a traumatic past and our brain will suppress any memories we do not want to remember.
Unfortunately, years later a trigger can cause those bad memories to come back and force us to
deal with the traumatic situations. There are times where our brains do like to agree without our
realities causing memory errors to become unavoidable at that time. Another way our brains can
trick us is when we get into a routine of doing something for so long and we change up that
routine there will still be times that we go back to our old routine cause that is what we are used
to!
For example, I have worked my whole life and was on a routine, however, I took some
time off over the summer to spend more time with my kids. I fell back into a pattern of sleeping
in and staying up, then came around August and I had to change my routine to make sure I am up
at 7 am to get my daughter up and ready for school. As time passed by my body and brain was
used to waking up at 7 am every morning where I did not need an alarm. Now that I just began
working again, I must get a new routine down of waking up at 6 am. Luckily in this situation the
brain helps us, but there are times where I will completely sleep past the normal time of getting
up because I am so tired, and my brain is not ready to start the day. It brings up a good point of
how our brains can help us and sometimes cause us to make a mistake. Our brain works based on
our memories and memory distortion can have serious consequences at times. Our memory is not
spot-on of our previous experiences, and at times can cause errors and unclear facts. Errors in
Memory Errors in Real Life
PSY 352: Cognitive Psychology
Our brain is a crazy contraption that was created but can sometimes play tricks on us.
There are times we are sure we did something when we did not. In some cases, a person can have
a traumatic past and our brain will suppress any memories we do not want to remember.
Unfortunately, years later a trigger can cause those bad memories to come back and force us to
deal with the traumatic situations. There are times where our brains do like to agree without our
realities causing memory errors to become unavoidable at that time. Another way our brains can
trick us is when we get into a routine of doing something for so long and we change up that
routine there will still be times that we go back to our old routine cause that is what we are used
to!
For example, I have worked my whole life and was on a routine, however, I took some
time off over the summer to spend more time with my kids. I fell back into a pattern of sleeping
in and staying up, then came around August and I had to change my routine to make sure I am up
at 7 am to get my daughter up and ready for school. As time passed by my body and brain was
used to waking up at 7 am every morning where I did not need an alarm. Now that I just began
working again, I must get a new routine down of waking up at 6 am. Luckily in this situation the
brain helps us, but there are times where I will completely sleep past the normal time of getting
up because I am so tired, and my brain is not ready to start the day. It brings up a good point of
how our brains can help us and sometimes cause us to make a mistake. Our brain works based on
our memories and memory distortion can have serious consequences at times. Our memory is not
spot-on of our previous experiences, and at times can cause errors and unclear facts. Errors in
