How Imagination and Belief Impact Memory

The term “counselor” for lawyers is more apt than you might think. We deal with people all the time: our clients, other parties, other lawyers, judges, jurors, and witnesses. We strive to get to the truth—what actually happened and what it means.

Like counselors who are therapists, we see a lot of strange versions of “the truth.” That’s not because people are always “lying,” but because of how variable human memories are, despite good intentions.

It’s been well-known that memories “fade” over time. Details are lost or mixed up. Sequences become foggy.

It’s also well-documented that people tend to remember some characteristics better than others, depending on things like race.

But memory can be even more variable because of two more factors: imagination and personal belief.

In Dr. Matthew Sharps’ article in Psychology Today, he describes studies involving a photograph of a crime scenes. Subjects were asked to review the photograph and respond to questions based solely on memory. In addition to ordinary memory errors, the average person made at least one error of imagination. In other words, they made stuff up without realizing it.

People remembered the intentions or emotional state of the suspect, when there was no clue to either of these in the image. People created little biographies of the suspect and victim, based on, well, nothing.

In a subsequent article, Dr. Sharps describes the three basic traits of memories over time: “they become shorter, they coalesce around the gist of what actually happened, and they change in the direction of personal belief.” In other words, “we tend to remember what we believe happened, not what actually happened.”

Inserting personal belief into memory has a compounding effect, like “the fish was this big.” Each recollection or retelling of a memory is also an event that impacts the memory: “This means that every time you tell somebody about something, your retelling, as an event, may influence future accounts. Your imagination today can influence your imagination tomorrow.” In other words, memories change themselves.

It’s important for lawyers to consider these possibilities in all aspects of practice. A seemingly trustworthy potential client may have a wildly inaccurate account of events. An eyewitness may fill in gaps with assumptions or imagination, rather than facts.

Learning human beings will help you as much as learning the law.