It's easy enough to forget something that happened. It's also possible to remember something that didn't happen. Researchers have used magnetic resonance imaging of the brain to record what happens when someone retrieves a real memory -- and what happens when that same person conjures up an imagined or "false memory."
As NPR's Michelle Trudeau reports, the study found that the parts of the brain used to perceive a real object overlap with those used to imagine that object. Because of this overlap, brain imaging is unlikely at this point to be useful in determining who is remembering accurately and who is remembering a false memory.
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