False memories

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mooks

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Do you ever have 'false memories'? I don't really know how to explain that more articulately ...

As a harmless example, I nodded off on the couch the other night. When I woke, I meandered past the kitchen for a snack (of the chocolate variety). I then put the rest of the box away and went to bed. Last night, I went searching for the remainder of the slab and vaguely remembered hiding it (I live with the human equivalent of a locust swarm - no treat is safe). Each hiding place I looked in I had a distinct and clear memory of having placed the item there, but it wasn't in any of them.

Normally I would just chalk that up to sleep haze, but the memory of having put the thing in each of those places was so vivid. I can even recall the thought process of why I decided to hide it there or there or there :confused:

Anybody ever experience stuff like that?
 
mooks said:
I then put the rest of the box away and went to bed. Last night, I went searching for the remainder of the slab and vaguely remembered hiding it (I live with the human equivalent of a locust swarm - no treat is safe).
Click to expand...

More memory problems :)
 
mooks said:
Do you ever have 'false memories'? I don't really know how to explain that more articulately ...

As a harmless example, I nodded off on the couch the other night. When I woke, I meandered past the kitchen for a snack (of the chocolate variety). I then put the rest of the box away and went to bed. Last night, I went searching for the remainder of the slab and vaguely remembered hiding it (I live with the human equivalent of a locust swarm - no treat is safe). Each hiding place I looked in I had a distinct and clear memory of having placed the item there, but it wasn't in any of them.

Normally I would just chalk that up to sleep haze, but the memory of having put the thing in each of those places was so vivid. I can even recall the thought process of why I decided to hide it there or there or there :confused:

Anybody ever experience stuff like that?
Click to expand...

you were dreaming.
 
AcidRaZor said:
or someone just stole the chocolate
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Possible. Or maybe I was momentarily abducted by aliens and there was a glitch in the system when they tried to implant false memories to account for the time lost. Maybe there never was any chocolate at all!

Maybe I watch too much sci-fi TV and should stop eating stimulant chocolate at 2am.

You never know!
 
Wait? You mean you distinctly remember stuff that clearly didn't happen?

You should experiment with it, try and bring it on so as to find the trigger that puts you into that state. Take notes, or videolog for when you're half asleep.

Who knows, it may turn out to be something that can be syringed and sold. For billions. Imagine the possibilities .. you wanna sleep with that elusive pornstar of your dreams?

Buy this and surprise .. you already did!
 
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evilstebunny said:
Wait? You mean you distinctly remember stuff that clearly didn't happen?

You should experiment with it, try and bring it on so as to find the trigger that puts you into that state. Take notes, or videolog for when you're half asleep.

Who knows, it may turn out to be something that can be syringed and sold. For billions. Imagine the possibilities .. you wanna sleep with that elusive pornstar of your dreams?

Buy this and surprise .. you already did!
Click to expand...

I have to say it felt more real than any hazy memory (which is always kind of slippery isn't it?), deja vu (which always somehow feels a bit uncomfortable) or hallucination (which feels real at the time, but is much harder to contextualize retrospectively) I've experienced in my life so far.... I can still graphically remember doing the things that I clearly didn't do. Also, the memory makes no sense. Why & how would I simultaneously put the same thing in 3 or 4 different places?

Anyway. It just felt weirder than usual is all :)
 
mooks said:
I have to say it felt more real than any hazy memory (which is always kind of slippery isn't it?), deja vu (which always somehow feels a bit uncomfortable) or hallucination (which feels real at the time, but is much harder to contextualize retrospectively) I've experienced in my life so far.... I can still graphically remember doing the things that I clearly didn't do. Also, the memory makes no sense. Why & how would I simultaneously put the same thing in 3 or 4 different places?

Anyway. It just felt weirder than usual is all :)
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You haven't watched Total Recall lately, have you?
 
Did you actually buy a chocolate at some point TO have it? Receipts? Tangible evidence?

Because if you did, and it's gone, then I stand by my "it's stolen" statement.

Even with the most vivid dreams I've had before in my life (and i have *REALLY VIVID* dreams), I've always been able to determine what was reality and what not
 
mooks said:
Possible. Or maybe I was momentarily abducted by aliens and there was a glitch in the system when they tried to implant false memories to account for the time lost. Maybe there never was any chocolate at all!

Maybe I watch too much sci-fi TV and should stop eating stimulant chocolate at 2am.

You never know!
Click to expand...

it's actually incredible, this is why i'm so fond of psychology and things to do with the mind. your mind can do a number of things.

1.) It can discard a memory that it doesn't deem meaningful, like if you lock a door and walk away from it, you cannot remember if you locked it or not, which causes your mind to go crazy searching for the memory now.
2.) It can be faked, if you are used to locking the door it may become a pattern that when the memory is discarded, the brain automatically fills in that spot because it is routine, and a kind of trick of the mind.
3.) Dreaming also has that effect. You may have a very vivid dream where you remember doing something, and it feels so real and it's so simple that your mind just acknowledges that it is done

A deju vu feeling or a feeling that somebody is going to call and they do is similar, your mind tricks you into feeling it when you never really thought of it at all :)
 
Neck_Monster said:
A deju vu feeling or a feeling that somebody is going to call and they do is similar, your mind tricks you into feeling it when you never really thought of it at all :)
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It has often happened to my husband that he thinks of people with whom he has had no contact for a long time and soon after, they call. Odd!
 
blunomore said:
It has often happened to my husband that he thinks of people with whom he has had no contact for a long time and soon after, they call. Odd!
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Statistically, if your husband thinks of other people, and they never phoned, now that would be odd: Otherwise, that's just randomness :-) ....
 
blunomore said:
It has often happened to my husband that he thinks of people with whom he has had no contact for a long time and soon after, they call. Odd!
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Wow! It happens to my parents too! Whenever someone whom they haven't spoken to in a long time calls, they tell the person "I was just thinking about you!" :p
 
bin3 said:
Statistically, if your husband thinks of other people, and they never phoned, now that would be odd: Otherwise, that's just randomness :-) ....
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I dunno. He has no contact with X for let's say 6 or 9 months. Today, he thinks of X and 2 days later, X calls. That does not sound random to me :)
 
blunomore said:
It has often happened to my husband that he thinks of people with whom he has had no contact for a long time and soon after, they call. Odd!
Click to expand...

What your mind does, is for example think of Dave, Steve, Mike, Dave, Steve, Mike, Dave, Steve, Mike, but your mind is constantly discarding this information as it isn't important. a way to test this is to think about the thing you were thinking of in the car this morning when you turned into work, or what you were thinking of in the shower last night.

If you are thinking of Steve, and Dave calls, your mind simply discards it, but if you are thinking of Dave and Dave calls, your mind makes a connection and thinks "that's cool! a pattern!"

that is also why people are more likely to fall for tall stories or religion, the mind eventually convinces the person that something is genuine, which is why so many people woudl swear on their lives htat they saw a man turn into a snake or that they had a supernatural experience.


with deja vu, your brain does an odd thing, where it says "the next thing you see on tv, you are going to have the feeling of seeing it before." that is why deja vu is deja vu, and not a repeat. it makes no sense to be familiar with something but your brain has like a mini orgasm now. i don't know why the brain does this, but i know it's been tested
 
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