The topic that I found to be most interesting this semester was memory, specifically flashbulb memories. My memory is decent and I feel like I can recall most experiences pretty well. However, I have a few memories that really stand out in my mind because of their intensity, and I don't think that I'll ever forget or misinterpret them. Or, at least I didn't until I read about false memories. The book said that even though flashbulb memories stood out in our minds and seemed extremely vivid, they can still succumb to distortion. One of my earliest vivid memories was getting lost while skiing in Breckenridge, Colorado when I was five or six years old (I've put my mother through some tough times). I was convinced that I was lost for an hour or more and talked to strangers about finding my parents, but I found out years later that it was really only ten minutes or so. Granted I was very young when this happened but it was still the first thing that came to mind when I was reading the section about false memories. I'm sure this is the reason for many pointless arguments because each person "remembers" how something happened. It's certainly the basis for most episodes of Judge Judy.
