Memory

[alona]

So we all know how easy it is to implant a false memory, right? I mean, for starters, memories are never entirely reliable and become even less so as time passes. But a memory specifically regarding a traumatic incident is very easily changed; a little coaxing, a little pressure, and you could convince a witness they saw something that never even was there in the first place.

If we take that in our own context, most of us have, literally, spent half of our lives swimming in daydream after daydream, with little conscious thought for the outside world. How often has it happened to you guys that your memory of the outside world has been overlapped by your memory of your daydreams, which in themselves are a reality for us, and you've become confused as to whether or not something actually happened? For myself, it's happened countless times. I think of asking someone about something, then remember that something never actually happened. That I believe is when we're most distant from the "real world."

[Source]

In my experience it happens in a somewhat subtle way, not completely replacing memories, but rather enhancing them in ways that compensate for the lack of real significance of an event.