Remember the Time Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mandela Effect

This name was coined by Fiona Broome in 2009, who claimed to have a recollection of Nelson Mandela dying in a South African prison in the 1980s, even though this is obviously not true, as he was later released from prison and died in 2013. She also claimed that she has spoken to many people who have similar recollections.

As a possible explanation, Broome has proposed the astonishing idea that these are not simply false or mistaken memories but that they may be glimpses into an alternate reality! However, scientific research on memory has shown that people can sometimes develop highly detailed and vivid memories of events that simply never happened or that are impossible, so it seems far more likely that the Mandela Effect is an example of this.

For example, people who remember a movie called "Shazaam" might have simply confused it with an actual 1996 movie called "Kazaam" starring Shaqille O'Neal as a genie.

Answer: Imagination inflation

Studies have also found that imagining events can increase the effects of suggestion in creating false childhood memories. Researchers think that when people are deciding whether a mental event represents a real memory or not, they may rely on cues, such as how much sensory and contextual information the mental event contains. Vividly imaging an event can simulate sensory and contextual cues that may lead to confusion about whether what is imagined actually happened, fostering false memories. Other studies have found that showing people doctored photos of supposed past events that did not actually happen can induce at least some people to report that they remember the event.

For example, in one study, people who were shown a doctored photo of President Obama shaking hands with the Iranian President (which did not actually happen) with an accompanying bogus news story later claimed that they had previously seen this photo on the news.

These are all examples of what memory researchers call source monitoring errors, i.e., when a person becomes confused about where they acquired particular information and attribute it to their own personal experience.

Answer: Memory conformity

Information that a person is exposed to after an event that they have personally witnessed, even if it is inaccurate, can influence how the person subsequently remembers the event. Specifically, discussing the event with a co-witness can affect what an eyewitness subsequently remembers, and may even lead them to report things that did not actually happen. Research has found that some individuals are more inclined to accept misinformation than others.

Answer: Anterograde amnesia

In this film, the protagonist developed anterograde amnesia as a result of a severe head injury he received while being attacked by two men. To cope with his condition, he uses tactics like leaving himself notes and polaroid photos about things he needs to remember later and even has tattoos to permanently store certain pieces of vital information. People with this condition can maintain information in short-term memory for short periods lasting from 30 seconds to several minutes but cannot consolidate this information into permanent long-term memories.

Answer: Hippocampus

In a famous medical case in 1953, a patient known as "HM" had his hippocampus surgically removed to control severe epileptic seizures. The operation was partially successful in terms of his epilepsy but had the unfortunate side-effect of leaving him unable to permanently form new episodic memories.

For example, he was permanently unable to recognise or recall the names of staff members in the hospital he resided in, even after interacting with them daily for many years. Other cases since then have confirmed that accidental or surgical damage to the hippocampus has this detrimental effect on memory.

Answer: Flashbulb memory

The researchers who identified this effect called it "flashbulb" because a person's memory would capture trivial details about the context they were in, as if a flashbulb focusing on these minor sensory details had gone off. An unusual feature of flashbulb memories is that while these sensory details appear to be permanently remembered, more important information about what actually happened to cause the flashbulb memory may be forgotten over time.

Answer: Hypnopompic state

The hypnopompic state is a transitional state between sleeping and waking and is often accompanied by vivid imagery. Sleep paralysis seems to involve an intrusion of dreaming into the semi-waking state, resulting in hallucinatory experiences. A study conducted by psychologist Richard J. McNally found that alien abductees tend to be highly fantasy prone and inclined to accept paranormal beliefs.

Hence, their abduction memories might be their way of making sense of hallucinatory experiences during sleep paralysis that other people would dismiss as purely imaginary. Additionally, many of the abductees in the study had undergone hypnotic memory recovery sessions that may have further convinced them that their experiences were real.

Answer: Déjà vu

Déjà vu is common in people with epilepsy but even people who are completely healthy occasionally experience it, and many people find it unsettling. The phenomenon is not well understood but a number of explanations have been proposed, e.g., that a single part of a larger scene may be familiar, which triggers a feeling of familiarity for the whole scene, even the parts of it that have not been experienced before, or that an overall feature of a scene may be familiar even though the specific details are not.

Answer: Proactive interference

This is a common problem, and not only effects learning of factual information but learning of new skills. For example, if one has learned to do something a particular way, it may be difficult to learn a new method of doing it, as the previously learned procedures may make it difficult to remember new procedures.

In contrast, retroactive interference is when newly learned information interferes with remembering previously learned information.

Answer: Method of loci

This method is discussed in ancient Greek and Roman writings and is known by other names, such as the mental palace technique. Basically, one imagines a place consisting of a number of discrete locations ("loci") and mentally places the items at these loci.

Then to recall the items later, one again imagines walking through the place so that the loci act as memory triggers for the items one needs to remember. This technique is still popular today and has often featured in popular culture. For example, in the TV show "Sherlock" the main character refers to his "mind palace" that he uses to store information.