Final answer:
Retelling a story can distort the original memory due to memory reconstruction, suggestibility, and biases. External information introduced during the recall process can lead to false memories, as can leading questions from others, while personal biases alter how past events are remembered.
Step-by-step explanation:
How Retelling a Story Distorts Original Memory
Retelling a story can inherently distort the memory of the original event. This alteration is due to memory construction and reconstruction. As we retrieve our memories, also known as reconstruction, they are flexible and susceptible to change. Inaccuracies and distortions can occur when we combine old memories with new ones, or when additional information is integrated into the original memory, as explained by researchers like Roediger & DeSoto (2015).
Moreover, cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Loftus found that suggestibility could lead to false memories, especially when leading questions are asked during an event recall. Such suggestibility can lead to misremembered events, as external input or misinformation alters the recollection (misinformation effect). Flashbulb memories, like significant historical events, can also become less accurate over time due to transience. Notably, the forgetting errors, including transience, suggest that whatever is not frequently recalled can fade.
The second distortion error, suggestibility, stands out as false memories here may not originate solely from the person but from external influences. For example, a therapist or police interviewer asking leading questions can implant false recollections in a person's memory.
Biases such as one's feelings and worldview can further taint memories, indicating that our subjective experiences shape how we recall events. Additionally, there's the phenomenon of inaccurate and false memories, showcased when even vital events such as political figures' statements about significant incidents change over retellings due the passage of time and failing memory recall.