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Peggy St. Jacques' research explores the science of memory — exploring not just what we remember, but how we remember it. Photo: Getty Images.

Ever feel like your memories are less a pristine photo album and more an evolving Wikipedia page? The Memory for Events (ME) Lab at the º£½ÇÉçÇø is looking at why. Led by Peggy St. Jacques in the Department of Psychology, the researchers aren’t just interested in what you remember, but how you remember it, and how those memories get tweaked, rewritten and sometimes fabricated.

Their tools include everything from fMRI scanners to virtual reality headsets, and they’re exploring the neural pathways that light up when we recall a cherished vacation or a cringey first date. St. Jacques says they’re particularly fascinated by the constructive nature of memory — how we edit the past, adding details, smoothing edges and occasionally creating narratives.

Ever notice how you recall some past events through your own eyes, while others feel like you’re watching yourself in a movie? St. Jacques wanted to look deeper into it. “We’re really interested in how shifting visual perspective during retrieval can actually modify and update memories,” she says. The ME Lab is figuring out how the brain switches between these perspectives, and how that affects the accuracy and emotional charge of autobiographical memories. They’re even using wearable cameras to capture real-world events, then recreating those experiences in the lab to see how perspective influences recall.

Memories aren’t just about the past. The ME Lab is exploring how our ability to reshape memories helps us imagine possibilities, consider different viewpoints and make sense of the world. So, the next time you’re reminiscing with friends and someone’s recollection of that epic camping trip seems a little different from yours, you’ll know why. It’s the brain doing its thing, editing the autobiographical past.