In a study in the 1990s, participants recalled getting lost in a shopping mall as children.
Some shared these memories in vivid detail — one even remembered that the old man who rescued him was wearing a flannel shirt.
But none of these people had actually gotten lost in a mall.
They produced these false memories when the psychologists conducting the study told them they'd gotten lost, and although they might not remember the incident, their parents had confirmed it.
And it wasn't just one or two people who thought they remembered getting lost — a quarter of the participants did.
These findings may sound unbelievable, but they actually reflect a very common experience.
Our memories are sometimes unreliable.
And though we still don't know precisely what causes this fallibility on a neurological level, research has highlighted some of the most common ways our memories diverge from what actually happened.
The mall study highlights how we can incorporate information from outside sources, like other people or the news, into our personal recollections without realizing it.
This kind of suggestibility is just one influence on our memories.
