Explaining How Memories Can Be Wrong (to a kid) - Dr. Travis Gee

Please copy and paste this handout if you need to explain to a child how some of their memories may not be actual records of historical facts.

The Memory Puzzle

Alright! Let's talk about how our memory works, like a big puzzle. Imagine your brain is like a huge puzzle board, and every time something happens, you get new puzzle pieces. When you remember something, your brain tries to put all those pieces together to make a picture of what happened. But here's the tricky part: sometimes, the brain doesn't have all the pieces, or some pieces get lost or mixed up with other pieces. So, it has to guess and fill in the missing parts. This means the picture you remember might not be exactly what happened. This is what we call the "reconstructive nature of memory." Think about a time you went to a birthday party. You might remember playing games, eating cake, and having fun. But if you talk to someone else who was there, like your mom or a friend, they might remember different things, like the decorations or the music. Your brain fills in the gaps with what it thinks should be there, based on what you know and have experienced before. So, if you and your family remember things differently, it doesn’t mean anyone is lying or wrong. It's just that everyone’s brain is putting the puzzle pieces together in their own way.