By now, nearly everyone's heard about just how profoundly fallible the human memory

can be.

And yet so many important decisions are made in so many aspects of life, based upon things

people think they remember.

Today, we're going to see what we can quantify about the fallibility of memory and see just

how it does work and how it doesn't.

We're doing that today on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid.

I'm Craig Good from Skeptoid.com.

The fallibility of memory.

Take a moment to think of a cherished childhood memory.

Try to recall it in detail.

Think of where you were, who you were with, the sights, the smells, the tastes.

Recall the sounds like the wind in the trees and how you felt.

Were you happy?

Anxious?

Laughing?

Crying?

We would all like to think that our memory is like a camera that records a scene, tuxed

away in a corner of our brain and retrieves it for playback when we want to relive that

birthday ice cream or feel a long lost summer breeze on our cheeks.

In a large sense, we are what we remember, so memories are an integral part of who we

...