Brain Study Shows Memories are Constantly Updated

Memories can be altered by new experiences, says a new research.

According to the study conducted by the Northwestern University (Published in the Journal of Neuroscience), the human brain constantly reinterprets previous memories with the present experiences.

The researchers tested 17 participants by giving them a simple task. The subjects had to study the location of objects briefly flashed on a computer screen and were asked to recall the object's original location on a new screen with a different background. Then, they had to drag the object using a mouse from the center of the screen to the place where they recalled was the original location. Sixteen of the 17 subjects got the location wrong by an average of 3 inches. Next, the participants  were given three choices-original locations, wrong guess and a neutral spot on the background yet a majority chose the incorrect location.

 During the testing process, brain activity showed that the area of hippocampus responsible for maintaining the correct memory also confirmed the new false memory.

 Donna Bridge, cognitive neurologist, Northwestern University said, "That overlapping brain activity was pretty shocking to us. The idea is that whatever is most important to you right now, the hippocampus is responsible to either maintain a stable representation or change it," reports the Los Angeles Times

She added that it's hard to remember how someone familiar looked in the past because the memories tend to project current appearance of the person making us feel the difference when we see an old photograph of the person. It is also good use the past to inform the future and present with the new situations and experiences. This also means updating the past facts.

The results add to the mounting evidence against the authenticity of eyewitness testimonies, reports the Times.