1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,720 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:11,160 Speaker 1: Lauren vogelbaumb here with a classic for you from the vault. 3 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: In this one, we talk about the Mandela effect, that 4 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 1: strange phenomenon where lots of people misremember the same thing 5 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:22,439 Speaker 1: in the same way. I probably don't say it enough 6 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 1: on this show given the show's name, but brains are weird. 7 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogelbomb here. Accountless humans have watched 8 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: the Star Wars movies. 9 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:35,839 Speaker 2: And most of them will tell you that the bumbling 10 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 2: droid named C Threepo is gold all over. But did 11 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 2: you know that C three Po actually has one silver leg? 12 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,280 Speaker 2: And what's that immortal line Darth Vader utters in the 13 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:49,400 Speaker 2: movie The Empire strikes back. It's not Luke, I am 14 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 2: your father. He actually says, no, I am your father. 15 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 2: Both of these are pop culture examples of what's called 16 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 2: the Mandela effect, which are false memories shared among a 17 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 2: large popular of people, a collective misremembering of sorts. The 18 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:05,839 Speaker 2: phrase was coined around two thousand and nine by self 19 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:09,640 Speaker 2: described paranormal consultant Fiona Broome, who used it to explain 20 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,640 Speaker 2: the phenomenon where many people around the world believed that 21 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 2: the South African leader Nelson Mandela died in prison in 22 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 2: the nineteen eighties, but he was released in nineteen ninety 23 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 2: later served as president of the country, and died in 24 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 2: twenty thirteen at the age of ninety five. Broome's theory 25 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 2: is that at all times, there are multiple realities of 26 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 2: each universe sometimes called the multiverse, and that within each 27 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 2: universe there are variations or iterations of objects, people, and events. So, 28 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 2: according to this theory, memories of these incorrect shared moments 29 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:44,240 Speaker 2: are not really false. There are just instances where parallel 30 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 2: universes crossed paths for an instant. The multiverse theory is 31 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 2: also applied to various concepts in physics and spider man 32 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 2: a science has other explanations for how the Mandela effect happens. 33 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 2: Much of it boils down to the fact that human 34 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 2: memory is notoriously unreliable. In this our age of digital technologies, 35 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:05,920 Speaker 2: we often equate our brains with computer hard drives, as 36 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 2: though our experiences are typed up and filed away in 37 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 2: our own organic storage. However, our prefrontal cortices, where many 38 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 2: memories are stored, don't work with the same precision as 39 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:21,239 Speaker 2: a hard drive. We spoke via email with Caitlin Amote, ACLA, 40 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 2: PhD candidate in neuroscience. She says that based on what 41 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:27,360 Speaker 2: we know about the brain, we can make inferences about 42 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:31,680 Speaker 2: what contributes to the Mandela effect. Quote. Memories are organized 43 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 2: in the brain so that similar memories are stored in 44 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 2: nearby neurons. When a memory is recalled, those cells are 45 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 2: able to change their connections, which allows for the addition 46 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 2: of new information. But because neurons that fire together wired together, 47 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 2: sometimes false memories can emerge from erroneous connections. While we 48 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:52,799 Speaker 2: might think of recalling memories as solidifying them in our brains, 49 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:56,800 Speaker 2: science seems to suggest otherwise. Recalling a memory often triggers 50 00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 2: other memories in the process, often intertwining varies, scenarios, and 51 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 2: people in new ways, a sort of reconsolidating of the 52 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 2: information in our brains. Human beings are also vulnerable to 53 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:12,080 Speaker 2: the concept of confabulation, which is an error or misinterpretation 54 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 2: regarding a memory without a conscious attempt to mislead ourselves 55 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 2: or others. Confabulation occurs when the brain is attempting to 56 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 2: fill in the blanks for incomplete memories. A speaker may 57 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:25,880 Speaker 2: mix and match similar experiences and information in order to 58 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:28,640 Speaker 2: complete a story in their mind, complete with details and 59 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:33,079 Speaker 2: emotional responses, certain that the tale is true. This kind 60 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,120 Speaker 2: of behavior happens more frequently in people coping with neurological 61 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 2: issues such as brain damage or Alzheimer's, but healthy individuals 62 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 2: confabulate too. Okay, so that might explain how one person 63 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 2: misremembers something, But why would lots of people misremember the 64 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 2: same facts. Emote points to a twenty sixteen psychology study 65 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 2: showing that eighty eight percent of people in an online 66 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:59,200 Speaker 2: survey incorrectly picked Alexander Hamilton as a US president from 67 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 2: a list of possible cause candidates. Hamilton's recognition rate was 68 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 2: much higher than that of some actual presidents like Franklin 69 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 2: Pierce and Chester Arthur. Hamilton was actually the first Secretary 70 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 2: of Treasury, but since he's associated with many early US 71 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 2: presidents and has a hit Broadway show with his name 72 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 2: in the title, one or many could be forgiven for 73 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:23,119 Speaker 2: mistaking him for a former commander in chief. Amote also 74 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 2: notes the power of suggestion. She said, suggestibility is the 75 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:30,359 Speaker 2: tendency to believe what others suggest to be true. This 76 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 2: is why lawyers are prohibited from asking witnesses leading questions 77 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 2: that suggest a specific answer. These days, there's also the 78 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:41,200 Speaker 2: viral power of the Internet and its ability to magnify 79 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 2: human error, suggestibility, and gullibility. Just for example, if one 80 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 2: person should vociferously claim that the actor Sinbad starred in 81 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:53,120 Speaker 2: a nineties movie about a genie called Shazam and could 82 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 2: pro offer plot details that strike a chord with other readers, 83 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 2: this could generate a false narrative that many people might 84 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 2: believe to be true or even claim to remember themselves 85 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 2: in actuality. The actor in the nineties movie about a 86 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:09,599 Speaker 2: genie was Shaquille O'Neil and the film was called Kazam. 87 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:13,280 Speaker 2: Experiments continually demonstrate just how flawed human memory can be. 88 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:16,720 Speaker 2: In one test, about thirty percent of subjects confirmed they 89 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:20,160 Speaker 2: had viewed video footage of United Flight ninety three, which 90 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 2: crashed as part of these September eleventh terrorist attacks. No 91 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 2: such footage exists. Even twenty percent of people with highly 92 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 2: superior autobiographical memory, that is incredibly accurate memories reported viewing 93 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:36,280 Speaker 2: the non existent video and outside of the lab, examples 94 00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 2: of the Mandela effect are pretty common. Are the popular 95 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 2: cartoon bears called the barn Steinbars or the barn Stain Bears. 96 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 2: It's the latter something that shocks many people who remember 97 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 2: reading these books as children. And do you remember a 98 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 2: famous portrait of England's King Henry the Eighth grasping a 99 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 2: turkey leg? So do a lot of other people, but 100 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 2: it never existed. 101 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article the Mandela Effect 102 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 1: Why so many recall events that never occurred? On how 103 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:12,160 Speaker 1: stuffworks dot com Written by Nathan Chandler. Brain Stuff is 104 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:15,040 Speaker 1: production by Heart Radio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com 105 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:17,920 Speaker 1: and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from 106 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:21,160 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 107 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.