Subjective vs. documented reality: a case study of long-term real-life autobiographical memory

Learn Mem. 2009 Jan 29;16(2):142-6. doi: 10.1101/lm.1157709. Print 2009 Feb.

Abstract

A young woman was filmed during 2 d of her ordinary life. A few months and then again a few years later she was tested for the memory of her experiences in those days while undergoing fMRI scanning. As time passed, she came to accept more false details as true. After months, activity of a network considered to subserve autobiographical memory was correlated with memory confidence rather than with accuracy. After years, mainly regions of the temporal pole displayed this pattern. These results might reflect a slow process of increased reliance on schemata at the expense of accuracy.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Female
  • Hippocampus / physiology
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Memory / physiology*
  • Nerve Net / physiology
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology
  • Repression, Psychology*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Temporal Lobe / physiology
  • Time Factors