WEBVTT - What Is the Mandela Effect?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogeldam. Here, A countless humans have watched the Star

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<v Speaker 1>Wars movies, and most of them will tell you that

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<v Speaker 1>the bumbling droid named C three p O is gold

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<v Speaker 1>all over. But did you know that C three po

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<v Speaker 1>actually has one silver leg? And what's that immortal line

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<v Speaker 1>Darth Vader utters in the movie The Empire strikes back.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not Luke, I am your father. He actually says, no,

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<v Speaker 1>I am your father. Both of these are pop culture

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<v Speaker 1>examples of what's called the Mandela effect, which are false

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<v Speaker 1>memories shared among a large population of people, a collective

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<v Speaker 1>misremembering of sorts. The phrase was coined around two thousand

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<v Speaker 1>nine by self described paranormal consultant Fiona Broom, who used

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<v Speaker 1>it to explain the phenomenon where many people around the

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<v Speaker 1>world believed that the South African leader Nelson Mandela died

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<v Speaker 1>in prison in the nineteen eighties, but he was released

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen ninety, later served as president of the country,

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<v Speaker 1>and died in twenty teen at the age of Broom's

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<v Speaker 1>theory is that at all times, there are multiple realities

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<v Speaker 1>of each universe, sometimes called the multiverse, and that within

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<v Speaker 1>each universe there are variations or iterations of objects, people,

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<v Speaker 1>and events. So, according to this theory, memories of these

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<v Speaker 1>incorrect shared moments are not really false. They're just instances

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<v Speaker 1>where parallel universe is crossed paths for an instant. The

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<v Speaker 1>multiverse theory is also applied to various concepts in physics

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<v Speaker 1>and spider man a. Science has other explanations for how

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<v Speaker 1>the Mandela effect happens. Much of it boils down to

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<v Speaker 1>the fact that human memory is notoriously unreliable. In this

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<v Speaker 1>our age of digital technologies, we often equate our brains

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<v Speaker 1>with computer hard drives, as though our experiences are typed

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<v Speaker 1>up and filed away in our own organic storage. However,

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<v Speaker 1>our prefrontal cortices, where many memories are stored, don't work

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<v Speaker 1>with the same precision as a hard drive. We spoke

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<v Speaker 1>via email with Caitlin Emote, a u c l A, PhD,

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<v Speaker 1>Canada in neuroscience. She says that based on what we

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<v Speaker 1>know about the brain, we can make inferences about what

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<v Speaker 1>contributes to the Mandela effect. Quote, memories are organized in

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<v Speaker 1>the brain so that similar memories are stored in nearby neurons.

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<v Speaker 1>When a memory is recalled, those cells are able to

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<v Speaker 1>change their connections, which allows for the addition of new information.

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<v Speaker 1>But because neurons that fired together wired together, sometimes false

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<v Speaker 1>memories can emerge from erroneous connections. While we might think

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<v Speaker 1>of recalling memories as solidifying them in our brains, science

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<v Speaker 1>seems to suggest otherwise. Recalling a memory often triggers other

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<v Speaker 1>memories in the process, often intertwining various scenarios and people

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<v Speaker 1>in new ways, a sort of reconsolidating of the information

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<v Speaker 1>in our brains. Human beings are also vulnerable to the

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<v Speaker 1>concept of confabulation, which is an error or misinterpretation regarding

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<v Speaker 1>a memory without a conscious attempt to mislead ourselves or others.

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<v Speaker 1>Confabulation occurs when the brain is attempting to fill in

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<v Speaker 1>the blanks for incomplete memories. Speaker may mix and match

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<v Speaker 1>similar experiences and information in order to complete a story

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<v Speaker 1>in their mind, complete with details and emotional responses, certain

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<v Speaker 1>that the tale is true. This kind of behavior happens

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<v Speaker 1>more frequently in people coping with neurological issues such as

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<v Speaker 1>brain damage or Alzheimer's, but healthy individuals can fabulate too, Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>so that might explain how one person misremembers something, but

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<v Speaker 1>why would lots of people misremember the same facts. Amote

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<v Speaker 1>points to a twenty six psychology study showing that eight

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<v Speaker 1>percent of people in an online survey incorrectly picked Alexander

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<v Speaker 1>Hamilton's as a U S president from a list of

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<v Speaker 1>possible candidates. Hamilton's recognition rate was much higher than that

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<v Speaker 1>of some actual presidents like Franklin Pierce and Chester Arthur.

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<v Speaker 1>Hamilton's was actually the first Secretary of Treasury, but since

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<v Speaker 1>he's associated with many early U S presidents and has

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<v Speaker 1>a hit Broadway show with his name in the title,

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<v Speaker 1>one or many could be forgiven for mistaking him for

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<v Speaker 1>a former commander in chief. Amote also notes the power

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<v Speaker 1>of suggestion. She said, suggestibility is a tendency to believe

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<v Speaker 1>what others suggest to be true. This is why lawyers

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<v Speaker 1>are prohibited from asking witnesses leading questions that suggest a

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<v Speaker 1>specific answer. These days, there's also the viral power of

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<v Speaker 1>the Internet and its ability to magnify human error, suggestibility,

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<v Speaker 1>and gullibility. Just for example, if one person should vociferously

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<v Speaker 1>claim that the actors Sinbad start in a nineties movie

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<v Speaker 1>about a genie called Shazam, and could pro offer plot

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<v Speaker 1>details that strike a chord with other readers. This could

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<v Speaker 1>generate a false narrative that many people might believe to

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<v Speaker 1>be true or even claim to remember themselves in actuality.

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<v Speaker 1>The actor in the nineties movie about a Genie was

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<v Speaker 1>Shaquille O'Neil and the film was called Kazam. Experiments continually

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<v Speaker 1>demonstrate just how flawed human memory can be. In one test,

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<v Speaker 1>about thirty percent of subjects confirmed that they had viewed

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<v Speaker 1>video footage of United Flight nine three, which crashed as

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<v Speaker 1>part of the September eleventh rorst attacks. No such footage exists,

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<v Speaker 1>even people with highly superior autobiographical memory that is incredibly

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<v Speaker 1>accurate memories reported viewing the non existent video, and outside

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<v Speaker 1>of the lab, examples of the Mandela effect are pretty common.

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<v Speaker 1>Are the popular cartoon bears called the barren Stein Bears

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<v Speaker 1>or the barren Stain Bears. It's the latter something that

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<v Speaker 1>shocks many people who remember reading these books as children.

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<v Speaker 1>And do you remember a famous portrait of England's King

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<v Speaker 1>Henry the Eighth grasping a turkey leg? So do a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of other people, but it never existed to Day's

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<v Speaker 1>episode was written by Dnaythan Chandler and produced by Tyler

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<v Speaker 1>Clang for iHeart Media and How Stuff Works. For more

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<v Speaker 1>in this and lots of other reliably accurate topics, visit

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<v Speaker 1>our home planet, How staff Works dot com