On learning and false memories

I have two false memories of which I am absolutely certain.

The first is that I distinctly remember driving into a specific garage to get petrol and hearing about the great train robbery on the car radio. Problem: I wasn’t old enough to drive when the great train robbery took place and the car in the memory didn’t have a radio.

The second is that I remember that I had an accident as a teenager that involved my father. I remember distinctly getting cut deeply on my forearm. Problem: the scar is on the other arm.

All this leaves me to think that I must have many false memories but these are the only two that I’m aware of.
 
I can't remember the author's name (wish I could) but read a lady's amusing memoirs of her family life in the mid-West, and she commented at the end they were to the best of her memories. However, she went on, she has found a strange thing - before she wrote a book her family thought she was wrong in a lot of what she said, now she's written a book everyone deferred to her.
 
Sometimes these false memories can leave a unpleasant misconception in the mind of the rememberer - often leaving a dent in one's self esteem. This is often an inroad for psychologists. If one successfully untangles the memory, they may find it wasn't what they thought and thereby releases any negative emotions around the memory.
 

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