[ Home | Contents | Search | Post | Reply | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Jasper
Date: 9/15/03
Time: 1:35:49 PM
Remote Name: 68.73.57.55
Charlie,
We talked before about how tricky memory can be. Who knows what caused the ice cream clerk to mix up the time. All of us have experienced vivid recollections of things that didn’t happen because of strong association we made at the time of the incident that got wrapped up in our recall. It’s not like it is here on the board where clearing up foggy memories of important details is much of what we do every day. Usually we are on our own and we don’t get the feedback we need to tell us when we stray off course.
http://www.smartfellowspress.com/Invisible/Chapter2.htm (search “gossip” -- next three paragraphs.
In our everyday lives things often happen that we would get wrong if someone later asked us to recall them. They don’t have to be dramatic or traumatic. But when you lay a big event on top of it, who knows what distortions might creep in? I don’t know enough about the ice cream clerk to make a confident judgment about his recall but we know that Nicole took the kids to Ben & Jerry’s right after she left the restaurant and we know that Ben & Jerry’s was right across the street from the restaurant. We also know that Nicole was home with the kids long before 10:30 because of the phone call O.J. made to Nicole at 9:25 to talk to Sydney and the later call from “mommy’s best friend” in which they argued and Nicole cried. I don’t believe Nicole was in the mood to return to Ben & Jerry’s after that call. Besides, the kids were already in bed.
Armed with those facts, the clerk might have zeroed in on the correct time he saw them. In fact, the police could have done it with cash receipts for the ice cream. --Jasper