{
  "id": 7395565,
  "title": "Why does your brain mix up memories? A new study examines how memories are misplaced in your brain’s filing cabinets",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/14/why-does-your-brain-mix-up-memories-a-new-study-examines-how-memories",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-14T19:24:35.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Conversation",
    "slug": "the-conversation",
    "url": "https://theconversation.com/why-does-your-brain-mix-up-memories-a-new-study-examines-how-memories-are-misplaced-in-your-brains-filing-cabinets-288701"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Older people may be more prone to mixing up memories rather than forgetting them entirely. While age and forgetfulness are often linked, a new study published in Cerebral Cortex suggests that memories actually become less precise with age. The brain blends related experiences instead of replaying the exact one needed. Memory involves three stages: perceiving and feeling details, storing them in the brain's filing system, and retrieving the correct file when needed. The last stage is what many people consider memory. Imagine a brain retrieving information from a conversation and accidentally combining details from a similar recent encounter. This could be an example of memory mix-ups in the aging brain. The study found that older adults had more memory mix-ups than young adults. They were more likely to falsely remember a face paired with one object as being paired with a different object. They were also less likely to repeat brain activity patterns, even when they tried to retrieve the original memory. The hippocampus, the brain region involved in all memory stages, seems to play a role in these mix-ups. However, researchers need to understand when these mix-ups occur and the specific role of the hippocampus in the process.",
  "summary": "Rather than simply forgetting a memory, your brain has likely misplaced it. Aging can make memory confusion worse.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}