Misremembering

The act of recalling something inaccurately or incorrectly; a failure of memory that results in a distorted or altered recollection of an event, fact, or experience. This can involve forgetting details, adding details that didn't exist, or changing the order of events. misremembering often arises from a variety of factors, including the passage of time, emotional impact, suggestion, and the reconstructive nature of memory. The resulting recall differs from the actual past event.

Misremembering meaning with examples

• After a week, Sarah swore she remembered seeing a blue car at the accident scene, despite it being red. This misremembering could be due to the emotional distress of the situation, leading her mind to fill in details incorrectly. Her recall became unreliable.
• The historian faced criticism after his book contained several factual inaccuracies, the result of misremembering specific dates and names from historical documents. He apologized, attributing these errors to relying on his recollection instead of thorough fact-checking.
• During the police investigation, witnesses provided conflicting accounts, exhibiting signs of misremembering the events leading up to the crime. Their memories, affected by stress and different perspectives, had caused the discrepancies in their stories.
• John's childhood friend, who claimed to be there at the time, said the trip had a carousel. However, John found out his friend had a distorted memory, misremembering this family trip. His memories had blended with other experiences over time.