When I was an investigative reporter I ran into the memory compression thing more then once when interviewing people and finding that the tellings of a memory differed even a few weeks apart when told by the same person. Hard to parse out the truth this way but knowing the mechanism for how it works is helpful!
Agree. Hard to parse out the truth sometimes, especially with the brain working the way it does. Our job as writers is to get as close to the truth as possible. More to come in the coming weeks. I appreciate you reading it, Shane.
I love this story. And the connection to memory makes perfect sense. I've long looked at interviewing subjects as a kind of hypnosis, lulling the subject into a more relaxed state that makes it easier for them to recall details that are important to the story I want to tell. I never really thought about the science behind it, though.
Fantastic essay. I want more.
When I was an investigative reporter I ran into the memory compression thing more then once when interviewing people and finding that the tellings of a memory differed even a few weeks apart when told by the same person. Hard to parse out the truth this way but knowing the mechanism for how it works is helpful!
Agree. Hard to parse out the truth sometimes, especially with the brain working the way it does. Our job as writers is to get as close to the truth as possible. More to come in the coming weeks. I appreciate you reading it, Shane.
I love this story. And the connection to memory makes perfect sense. I've long looked at interviewing subjects as a kind of hypnosis, lulling the subject into a more relaxed state that makes it easier for them to recall details that are important to the story I want to tell. I never really thought about the science behind it, though.
Lulling works every time. And the science backs it up! Thanks, Michael.