Why do we sometimes misremember things with total confidence?

Every time we recall an event, the brain rebuilds it from fragments rather than replaying a perfect video. That process can introduce errors, especially when suggestion, repeated discussion, or expectations shape the memory. Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus showed in the 1970s that memory can be altered by wording and later information, helping establish the modern science of false memories. Confident recall is therefore not the same as accurate recall, which is why eyewitness memory can be unreliable.