How Schema Can Distort Our Memories?

The common use of schemas suggests that memories are not identical reproductions of experience, but a combination of actual events and already-existing schemas. Likewise, the brain has the tendency to fill in blanks and inconsistencies in a memory by making use of the imagination and similarities with other memories.

How do schemas distort memory?

Various types of schema help us to understand a range of concepts. They can influence memories of events at the point of them being witnessed, affecting what our attention focusses on, therefore affecting the chunks of information available for encoding as long-term memories.

What factors can distort your memory?

Memories aren't exact records of events. Instead, memories are reconstructed in many different ways after events happen, which means they can be distorted by several factors. These factors include schemas, source amnesia, the misinformation effect, the hindsight bias, the overconfidence effect, and confabulation.