How our environment affects what we remember

Clinical psychologist Vanessa van Ast - It is a common experience that, when you share memories with a friend, you can recount some events in much more detail than others, while other times, you mix up memories. But why do our memories change? It is all about the spatial context, says clinical psychologist Vanessa van Ast. When successive experiences take place in the same environment, they become more deeply imprinted in our memory. But when an experience takes place in a new context, the memory of this experience pushes earlier memories to the background. Our episodic memory enables us to recount things that we personally experienced. For example, when reminiscing with a friend about seeing a film together in the cinema, people are able to share all kinds of funny details of things that happened that evening. When people think back to watching a film that made them emotional, this may even cause their heart to start racing again.