7.3: Encoding

We encode information when we perceive something, and if we misperceive something, then our memory of it will likely be distorted. Errors in the input usually lead to errors in the output. In the chapter on perception, we saw ways in which perception—including perception in the extended sense that encompasses our emotions and feelings—can be mistaken, so inaccuracies and biases can be encoded at the very beginning of the memory process.

For example, many of the spectators at the Princeton-Dartmouth game perceived things in a biased way, so it is little wonder that later they didn’t have accurate memories of what occurred. But the relationship between perception and memory is a two-way street. Perception is the input for memory. But memory provides the basis for our perceptual set—what we expect to see is determined by our memories—-so it in turn influences perception.