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The Mandela Effect: An Accessible Article (Part I)

Article · February 2020

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Neil Dagnall Ken Drinkwater

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University
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The Mandela Effect

A form of collective false memory referred to as the “Mandela Effect” has recently attracted a storm
of media attention. The Mandela Effect refers to the observation that people often misremember the
same event, detail or physicality. The phenomenon first came to prominence when paranormal
consultant Fiona Broome reported a story on her website in 2010.

http://mandelaeffect.com/about/

She recounted a conversation on the Dragon Con interactive website, where several individuals
incorrectly recalled the death of Nelson Mandela in a South African prison in the 1980s. Actually,
Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and passed away in 2013, aged 95.

Following Broome’s article, umpteen examples of collective misremembrance appeared on the

internet. For instance, people wrongly recalled that Star Wars character C-3PO is entirely gold;
actually, he has a silver leg. Likewise, memory people believe that the Queen in Snow White recites
the line, “Mirror, mirror on the wall”, when the phrase is ‘magic’ mirror.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/christopherhudspeth/crazy-examples-of-the-mandela-effect-that-will-
make-you-ques?utm_term=.gko9pb3P2#.svkJDn074

Broome explains the Mandela effect via pseudoscientific explanations. Specifically, she extends the
scientific concept of many-worlds (multiverse), claiming that false recollections result from movement
between parallel realities in which alternative versions of events and objects exist.

Broome also draws comparisons between existence and the holodeck of the USS Enterprise (Star
Trek). The holodeck was a virtual reality experience used principally to create recreational
experiences. In this context, collective memory errors represent software glitches similar to those
depicted in the film ‘The Matrix’.

Whilst these ideas are appealing, they are far-fetched and not scientifically testable. Contrastingly,
psychological research suggests that the “Mandela Effect” is explicable via existing work on false
memory. This research reports that despite being convinced about the authenticity and accuracy of
memories, people often recall information, which is inaccurate or invented.

False memory refers to recollection of events or experiences that have not occurred. The unconscious
manufacture of fabricated, distorted or misinterpreted memories about oneself, or the world is a
called confabulation.

False memories can arise in a number of ways. For instance, the Deese-Roediger and McDermott
(DRM) paradigm demonstrates that learning of word lists containing closely related items (e.g. “bed”,
“pillow”, “sheet”) produces false recognition of related but non-presented words (e.g. “sleep”). Bias
and inaccuracy in memory arises also from source monitoring errors. These are instances where
people fail to distinguish between real (external) and imagined (internal) events.

A demonstration of this is the ‘Lost in the Mall’ procedure devised by Jim Coan in the mid-90s. Coan
gave family members short narratives describing childhood events and asked them to recall the events
over several days. One narrative, about his brother getting lost in a shopping mall, was false. Not only
did Coan’s brother believe the event occurred, but he also added additional information. When
Elizabeth Loftus applied the technique to larger samples, 25% of participants failed to recognise the
event was false.
 In the context of the “Mandela Effect”, many of the frequently cited examples are attributable to
schema driven memory errors. Schemas are organised “packets” of knowledge stored in long-term
memory that filter and direct memory. The application of schemas facilitates understanding of
material and produces distortion.

Frederic Bartlett outlined the process of schema-related distortion in his classic book, Remembering
(1932). In one famous study, Barlett read the Canadian Indian Folklore "War of the Ghosts" to
participants and assessed their recall. He found that listeners omitted unfamiliar details and
transformed information to make it more understandable (effort after meaning). This occurs in real-
world situations too. For instance, Brewer and Treyens (1981) reported that participants’ attempts to
recall the contents of a psychologist’s office after 35 seconds exposure resulted in recall of schema-
consistent items (e.g., bookshelves) and omission of schema-inconsistent items (e.g., picnic basket).

Schema-driven errors also influence recall of regularly encountered everyday items, such as clocks,
coins, stamps and bank notes. Illustratively, French and Richards (1993) observed that the majority of
participants in their study when asked to draw a standard clock face containing roman numerals from
memory mistakenly drew ‘IV’ rather than IIII (clocks often use the latter inaccurate depiction of four
because it is more attractive).

These findings mimic examples of the “Mandela Effect”. Specifically, the fact that people mistakenly
recall that Uncle Pennybags (the Monopoly man) wears a monocle. Also, the belief that the product
title “KitKat” contains a hyphen (“Kit-Kat”). This inaccuracy arises from an overgeneralisation of pre-
existing knowledge about common spelling.

From a social perspective, frequently occurring and often communicated errors may become part of
collective reality. Exposure to inaccuracies may also influence recollection. Consider the basis of the
“Mandela Effect”, misremembering the death of a celebrity. If someone wrongly informs you of the
death of a famous person and you recall that general information this is actually a correct recollection
of factually incorrect information. Within contemporary society, the internet reinforces this process
by circulating incorrect and false information.

Relatedly, simulations of the 1997 fatal Princess Diana car crash are regularly mistaken for real
footage. When people report seeing the incidence it is unclear whether it is a memory error, or simply
a case of misinterpretation. The crashing memory paradigm, a technique used for investigating
people’s ‘memory’ of non-existent footages of public events, revealed that many errors result from
question ambiguity rather than faulty recall.

The majority of Mandela related-effects are attributable to mnemonic errors and social
misinformation. The fact that other inaccuracies are small and trivial suggests they result from
selective/faulty attention and inference. This is not to say that the Mandela Effect is not explicable in
terms of the multiverse. Indeed, the notion of parallel universes is consistent with the work of
quantum physicists. However, until the existence of alternative realities is established psychological
theories appear to offer explanations that are more credible.

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