Malleable Memories

How far back can you remember? What’s your earliest memory?

These questions might seem like easy no-brainers, but I want to challenge that idea just a little bit today, hopefully by way of a few examples.

One of my earliest memories has to be getting stung by a bee—maybe a yellow jacket. I might have been 5 years old, but maybe I was older. I distinctly remember feeling the pain of the sting, feeling it continue to hurt (a lot!) long after I had been stung.

I remember my uncle Bob pulling some tobacco out of a cigarette, and then putting a pinch on the sting. It seemed to make it hurt less. Tobacco doesn’t have any confirmed medical benefits for bee stings, but people have used this as a sort of folk remedy, probably for centuries.

I remember this scene happening… or do I?

Let me ask something you might not be thinking about just yet: what is a memory, really? How are memories made?

Even more so: how much of memory is accurate? Understanding the nature of memory isn't just about recall…