3 Question 1 (5 points) ✓ Saved
Memories of a Memory
Have you ever witnessed something amazing, shocking or surprising and found when
describing the event that your story seems to change the more you tell it? Have you
ever experienced a time when you couldn't really describe something you saw in a
way that others could understand? If so, you may understand why some experts
think eyewitness testimony is unreliable as evidence in scientific inquiries and trials.
New insights into human memory suggest human memories are really a mixture of
many non-factual things.
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First, memory is vague. Imagine your room at home or a classroom you see every day.
Most likely, you could describe the room very generally. You could name the color of
the walls, the floors, the decorations. But the image you describe will never be as
specific or detailed as if you were looking at the actual room. Memory tends to save
a blurry image of what we have seen rather than specific details. So when a witness
tries to identify someone, her brain may recall that the person was tall, but not be
able to say how tall when faced with several tall people. There are lots of different
kinds of "tall."
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Second, memory uses general knowledge to fill in gaps. Our brains reconstruct
events and scenes when we remember something. To do this, our brains use other
memories and other stories when there are gaps. For example, one day at a library
Which phrase from the text clearly explains the main idea of the third paragraph