Humans rely tremendously on memory because it impacts everything, including the way people feel, think, and behave. It’s true that people often tend to embellish stories and over exaggerate to capture an audience’s attention, yet we’re usually aware when we’re doing this. When people recall memories and talk about those experiences with people, we have confidence in our ability to recall past events and recite what happened in clear detail. However, there are many times when humans recall false memories, without acknowledging it. “People tend to think of their memories as a transcript, a rough history of events from some early age until the very moment they are experiencing. But human memory is far more like a desert mirage than a transcript—as we recall the past we are really just making meaning out of the flickering patterns of sights, smells and sounds we think we remember. (Eveleth) So, how are we able to believe false memories?

The creation of Photoshop, image-editing software, allows images to be realistically manipulated. Photoshop can change the appearance of someone online VS. the real-life appearance of a person, political campaigns through fake imagery, and the way humans remember things. It’s much easier for a person to believe physical evidence which matches a person’s experience, rather than listening to a person talk. People often believe Photoshopped images to be true because those memories get cognitively stored in the brain, while other factual information is lost. The images don’t distort the past, but they do effect our current and future behavior. It’s also much easier for a person to remember a fake memory from the past by using a childhood memory and Photoshop software. The process of manipulation and implementation of false memories is very possible and counterintuitive to believe, considering people have confidence in their memory abilities.

Work Cited

Eveleth, Amy. “How Fake Images Change Our Memory and Behavior.” FUTURE. BBC, 13 Dec. 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20121213-fake-pictures-make-real-memories