<P> The problem of bias, which is the distorting influences of present knowledge, beliefs, and feelings on recollection of previous experiences . Sometimes what people remember from their past says less about what actually happened than about what they personally believe, feel, and the knowledge they have acquired at the present time . An individual's current moods can bias their memory recall, researchers have found . There are three types of memory biases, consistency bias, change bias and egocentric bias . Consistency bias is the bias to reconstruct the past to fit the present . Change bias is the tendency to exaggerate differences between what we feel or believe in the present and what we previously felt or believed in the past . Egocentric bias is a form of change bias, the tendency to exaggerate the change between the past and the present in order to make ourselves look good in any given situation . </P> <P> The misinformation effect refers to the change in memory due to the presentation of information that is relevant to the target memory, such as leading questions or suggestions . Memories are likely to be altered when questions are worded differently or when inaccurate information is presented . For example, in one experiment participants watched a video of an automobile accident and were then asked questions regarding the accident . When asked how fast the automobiles were driving when they smashed into each other, the speed estimate was higher than when asked how fast the automobiles were driving when they hit, bumped or collided into each other . Similarly, participants were more likely to report there being shattered glass present when the word smashed was used instead of other verbs . Evidently, memory recollection can be altered with misleading information after the event . </P> <P> Source confusion or unconscious transference, involves the misattribution of the source of a memory . For instance, an individual may recall seeing an event in person when in reality they only witnessed the event on television . Ultimately, the individual has an inability to remember the source of information in which the content and the source become dissociated . This may be more likely for more distant memories, such as childhood memories . In more severe cases of source confusion, you can take fictional stories you heard from when you were younger and assimilated these stories being your childhood . For example, say your father told you stories about his life when he was a child every night before you went to sleep when you were a child . When you grow up, you might mistakenly remember these stories your dad told you as your own and integrate them into your childhood memories . </P> <P> Imagination inflation refers to when a person remembers details of a memory that are exaggerated versions of the actual event or remember an entire memory that never occurred due to the act of imagination . That is, when one imagines an event occurring, their confidence that this event actually did occur increases . One reason for this may be due to the act of imagination increasing the familiarity of the event . When the event seems more familiar, it may become more likely for people to report it actually occurring . For instance, in an experiment participants were asked to imagine playing inside and then running outside toward a window, falling and breaking it, while other participants did not imagine anything . Participants who had imagined this scenario reported an increased level of confidence that the event had actually happened in comparison to those who did not imagine the event . This error can be caused simply by imagining an event . </P>

A schema may be the reason that one doesnt remember items that are out of place