Darasha Singleton: What if I told you pikachu never had a black mark on the end of his tell like this, but actually was always just yellow like this. or what if I told you that famous nineties film Forrest Gump never said the line, life is like a box of chocolates but actually said life was like a box of chocolates. don’t believe me ? watch this.
Singleton: If your reaction was anything like Anne Hornstein’s up here, then you have just experienced the Mandela effect. Nelson Mandela was a south african civil rights activist who also served as president of south africa. The term was coined by paranormal researcher Fiona Broome. Broome discovered at a 2009 conference, she and other attendees shared that same false memory that Nelson Mandela had died while in prison. but he was very much alive at the time and did not die until 2013.
Singleton: Psychology research assistant alexis torres says such confusion doesn’t just happen with historical figures.
Torres: An example of the Mandela effect is remembering the Monopoly Man having a monocle, and that has never been that case. It makes sense because we’ve seen other characters with it like Mr.Peanut.
Singleton: If you thought Darth Vader in the star wars film said luke i am your father, well you’ve misinterpreted that too… Did you hear no, I am your father.. I heard it too.
Torres: So in psychology when we refer to the Mandela Effect we are referring to mass misremembering or false memory that occurs at a group level.
Anne Hornstein: Oooh that’s so weird, why do we do that?
singleton: Syracuse University student Anne Hornstein experienced the phenomenon herself while comparing side by side images in a computer lab.
hornstein: It’s so weird like it’s so freaky, okay the one on the left has to be it.
singleton: Torres says there are a number of theories behind the effect.
Torres: From a theoretical standpoint is that all the fine details are harder to access over time and kind of degrade whereas you have the gist of what’s accessible for a longer period of time.
Hornstein: It’s weird we’ve all seen these things too like we’ve had these boxes of cereal, we’ve seen these movies and shows, they’re like a part of our culture so to think we’ve been misinterpreting it the whole time is really weird.
Singleton: There are still many questions surrounding the mandela effect.but it seems our memories are not as reliable as we think they are.im darasha singleton reporting for N-C-C News
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – When a large number of people misremember something the same way, psychologists call this unique phenomena “collective false memories,” but it is also known as the Mandela Effect.
The Mandela Effect refers to a large number of people remembering something differently than how it occurred. The term was coined by paranormal researcher, Fiona Broome. In 2009, Broome attended a conference where she and other attendees shared the same false memory of Nelson Mandela dying while in prison in the ‘80s. Nelson Mandela, who served as president of South Africa, did not die until 2013.
Psychology research assistant, Alexis Torres, said misremembering does not only happen amongst historical figures.
“An example of the Mandela Effect is the Monopoly Man having a monocle, and that has never been the case, but it makes sense because we’ve seen other characters like that like Mr. Peanut,” Torres said.
Syracuse University student Anne Hornstein experienced the Mandela Effect herself, as she watched a compilation video of common Mandela Effect examples.
“Was? That’s crazy,”Hornstein said , as the ‘90s film, Forrest Gump, came across the screen debunking her memory of the famous line, “life is like a box of chocolates.” The line actually revealed itself to be, “life was like a box of chocolates.”
For the Star Wars movie fans, Darth Vader’s most famous line, “ Luke, Am I your Father” is actually, “No, I am your father.”
Torres stated that there are a number of theories on why this effect happens.
“From a theoretical standpoint, all of the fine details are harder to access over time and kind of degrade more easily. Whereas you have the gist of what happens and that’s more accessible for a longer period of time,” Torres said.
Hornstein stated that even the popular children’s books entitled Berenstain Bears, confused her because she remembered it as “Bernstein Bears,” similar to her own last name.
“It’s weird we’ve all seen these things too, we’ve seen these movies and shows and they’re like a part of our culture, so to think that we’ve been misinterpreting it the entire time is really weird,” Hornstein said.
There are still many unanswered questions when it comes to this phenomena, one thing that does seem certain, is that memories are not as reliable as they seem.
