Only logged in members can reply and interact with the post.
Join SimilarWorlds for FREE »

Weird, unexplained memory?

I for some reason have this memory that I could've sworn was real, but actually isn't.

When I was much younger, my father used to smoke cigarettes. I have this vivid memory of my father one day relaxing in the house, smoking a cigarette. I remember him wearing a green tank top and some shorts as he was smoking.

When I try to explain this to the rest of my family, they all say that it was impossible, because in reality, I wasn't even born yet, and that it was actually my older brother who remembers that, which makes me extremely confused.

If I wasn't even alive yet, then how come I remember that event happening so clearly as if it actually had happened?
This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »
ForeverOnMyGuard · 22-25, F
Memory is very unreliable. Everyone has memories as a child they swear were real, but were actually created after hearing a story or being guided into believing it happened. Your brother may have said something about what he saw, you stored the information into long term memory, and then at retrieval, remembered it differently (meaning that instead of his memory, it became yours).

Omg I will come back with a picture of an example I have to get my psychology book. We just did the chapter on memory so I'm getting all of this directly from a psychology textbook
ForeverOnMyGuard · 22-25, F