---
title: 'Do You Know Yourself? - Mind Field (Ep 8)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=b2ng8HuPLTk'
video_id: 'b2ng8HuPLTk'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 1547
---

# Do You Know Yourself? - Mind Field (Ep 8)

> Source: [Do You Know Yourself? - Mind Field (Ep 8)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=b2ng8HuPLTk)

## Summary

This episode of Mind Field explores the nature of self-identity and the reliability of memory. Host Michael Stevens conducts experiments to demonstrate how easily false memories can be implanted and how people justify choices they never made, questioning whether we truly know ourselves.

### Key Points

- **Introduction to Self-Perception** [00:50] — Michael Stevens introduces the question of identity: Are you your past, your atoms, or your memories? He notes that the mirror and photos show reversed images, challenging our self-perception.
- **False Memory Experiment Begins** [02:04] — Stevens explains that false memories are frighteningly easy to create. He sets up an experiment where he plants fake childhood memories in subjects by telling them stories, such as a hot air balloon ride.
- **First Subject: Timothy DeLaGhetto** [02:47] — Timothy, a YouTuber, is told a fake story about a controlling schoolgirl and a hot air balloon ride. He initially resists but later details are discussed.
- **Choice Justification Experiment** [06:31] — Stevens describes a psychological phenomenon where people overvalue their own mental states while distrusting others'. An experiment is conducted where subjects choose between faces, then later justify choices they didn't actually make.
- **Choice Justification Demonstrated** [08:10] — Subjects select preferred work partners from photos. After a distraction, they are shown the photos they rejected and asked to explain their non-existent choices, often fabricating reasons.
- **Retrograde Amnesia Case** [12:30] — A man with retrograde amnesia shares his experience: he hit his head and forgot his entire life, including his name and children. He had to rely on photos to rebuild his identity.
- **False Memories in Broader Context** [15:33] — Stevens discusses how false memories can lead to beliefs in past lives or alien abductions. A 1996 experiment planted a memory of being lost in a mall, showing how details can be filled in.
- **Second Subject: Dylan** [18:54] — Dylan is taken to a park where the false balloon ride supposedly happened. He begins to recall details like dropping a Superman cape, even though it never occurred.
- **Third Subject: Victoria** [19:50] — Victoria also starts accepting the false memory, adding vivid details like seeing water, feeling mist, and eating a churro. She becomes convinced the balloon ride happened.
- **Revelation and Conclusion** [22:40] — Stevens reveals the truth to the subjects. Dylan is shocked, Victoria is embarrassed but amazed. Tim was not susceptible. The episode concludes that memories are fragile and identity is an ongoing story we tell ourselves.

### Conclusion

Our sense of self is built on memories that are surprisingly malleable. The experiments show that false memories can feel real, and we often justify decisions retroactively, revealing that self-knowledge is less certain than we think.

## Transcript

- Hi, I'm Michael Stevens, Do you even know who you are? - I don't remember that at all.
The focus tester - Or are you your past? - I hit the back of my head and I forgot my entire life.
[electronic music] ♪ ♪
and thought, "That's what I look like? or not right in photos to other people.
is mirror you. Most selfie cameras do this too, If you wanna see yourself in a mirror
take two mirrors What you see won't be yourself reversed, So who would you say you are really?
Or are you the atoms that make you up? Ah, maybe the real common thread, is your history,
But what if we remember things differently Does that mean we don't know ourselves?
frighteningly easy to create. and we're gonna have a little fun doing it. called "Who You Were."
and have them tell us about their past. We're gonna plant a few little seeds in this mind field some fake memories.
Hi, I'm Michael Stevens, that takes you on a trip down memory lane "Who You Were."
Timothy DeLaGhetto. - How's it going, man. - Excited to kinda dive into some memories? a taste of your life.
- So Tim was raised in California - Tim found popularity as a rapper, and has attracted over 3 million subscribers.
In order to--to kind of see how you became who you are today - We spoke to your parents... - Mm-hmm. - Okay.  - I'm going to start
before I slip in the false memory. by a very controlling school girl. and always wanted to know what you were doing.
but then she was also very, like, possessive of me. - Okay. Here's a memory. - Yeah. - Until you noticed that
- You know, I empathize with people... like, helping them feel like we were all a team. we made up out of thin air.
- Mm-kay. - You actually took a ride from the balloon. - We're going deep--far back. - I didn't even know
- Was it? - Yeah. - Timothy is not accepting the story as truth yet. - Dylan, how are you? - I'm doing great, man.
from you Superman cape when you were young. to stop a car driving down the street. - You know, the dude hit his brakes.
So when you were about four or five years old, and you dropped something. I'm not sure if I remember that to be honest.
with a realistic detail can trigger the brain Did you have a favorite toy or anything - Oh, I mean, I had, like, some action figures, I think.
I'm not sure, like--that was, like, the--what happened. That's a crazy adventure When you were around four or five years old,
and you dropped something. Up in the air? - No. - None.
It never happened, 24 hours from now, - Okay.
to see if any of the seeds I planted today This is where you took your first hot air balloon ride. - Are you serious? - I'm serious.
[soft dramatic music] to remember our past accurately all the time, into our own mental states.
and why. Psychologists call our tendency to overvalue while distrusting that other people
truly understand their own... is something called... to fool someone into believing
and the amazing thing is that as if it were what they had always wanted. We know why we like the things we like.
But do we? [dramatic music] Today, we'll be showing our subjects sets of photos
of the person they'd prefer to work with. The focus tester who will be using slight of hand
for faces they've rejected. Or will they justify and explain a decision - Thank you for participating in this study
You will be shown sets of faces and be asked to select Are you ready to begin? - I am, yes. work with person "A" or person B?
[soft dramatic music] I can do this. - Person "A" or Person B? "A."
So we've made a pile of your ideal workplace colleagues. - Uh, now part two is to-- segment of the questionnaire.
it's just to distract them from what's about to happen There it is. for pictures our subject rejected.
with photos of people she didn't actually choose? - Okay.  - We'll start with a picture that she did pick before we slip in the rejects.
- She looks nice. She looks really nice, - Here's another pair of photos - Person B. - Person B.
the picture she actually rejected. - Um, she just looked nicer than the other one. didn't look very nice at all.
this one choice? - Why did you prefer to work with this person? when you chose that--chose her? - Mm-hmm.
get you the card and... [laughs] - This isn't just simple misremembering. a past that never happened.
justify choices that they never made? - "A." - So why did you choose to work with this person?
of a genuine person - People are completely fabricating I think we could actually up the ante.
now we'll swap four. the photos that she actually rejected. I like to work with confidant people,
As a woman, I wanna, like, and give them advice She looked like a type of person you could confide in
So I think she had that type of look. She looks like she might be, like, a wise type of person. - She seems so sure of her decisions,
- In particular, I'm curious about how you feel and, um, kindness, and somebody young. people I could work with, so...
- Yes. - The interesting thing - Is they are not actually the ones you chose. - These ones were. - Oh.
the questionnaire. It's this phenomenon, we will find a way to justify that choice... I was trying to justify these four...
that I picked those four. - It's like a debate. I was gonna give reasons for that. but, um, that's the reason why.
and I wasn't even, like, conscious about it. ♪ ♪ - You may think you know why you do the things you do,
that actual past with completely new explanations to be exactly what happened. is all you can do?
That may be the case for someone with... what happens to your sense of self? ♪ ♪
retrograde amnesia. - Correct. - I walked into a restroom at my office building, and hit the back of my head
it was, like, four- or five-inch laceration, which means everything autobiographical were completely erased. - Erased?
I've forgotten my entire life. Her name... my children. - Wow.
- Mm-hmm. - What memories did you have? You still knew things like how to ride a bike. - Well, when I handed him a toothbrush,
but he didn't know what it was called. ever using one before? - Correct. that involved toothbrushes, but you knew how to operate it
- Wow. - Things like that, you know, are stored in a different part of the brain. you were--you were born
You have a name, you have a wife, - Mm-hmm. - And you have to just accept - Right, 'cause that's exactly how I felt.
Like I stepped into somebody else's life, a lot of it I didn't believe. or--or was in the NFL.
I just--seemed like nothing I would ever do, and a lot of it, you know, she had to prove to me. She put together a whole album full of pictures.
- Wow. - And that kind of, you know, filled some of the gaps of who I was, you are who you are
and when I hear that, 'Cause it's like, "Then who am I?" what do you say?
because I haven't figured out who I am. my personality and who I am, I don't know who I am.
♪ ♪ Right? I mean, that's your story.
and they're in the past. They can't be changed. [film reel humming] found numerous examples of seemingly sane people
of past lives and alien abductions, that these events occurred. - Once people have decided that a memory is real,
the brain can fill in details that never happened. or what people are telling you isn't entirely accurate. made that point in a 1996 experiment
that they had been lost in a shopping mall as a child. and fill in details out of nowhere.
Completely changing your personal history. ♪ ♪ they did not recall the false memory we planted.
- Mm-kay. - You actually took a ride - I'm not sure if I remember that to be honest. - I don't remember that.
and today we're gonna see if physical stimuli Today is all about you... - Mm-hmm. - [laughs] - This is where
- [laughs] In a hot air balloon? for, like, a--another kid. - Some other kid? and see what can come back.
and tell me - Hmm. - You dropped something... - [breathes deeply]
Will this be the detail that pushes Tim What did I walk around with back then? - I spent another 15 minutes
with details of the false balloon story. ♪ ♪ - [laughs]
Let's check in with our other subjects. This is where you took your hot air balloon ride. This is Echo Park? - Yeah.
- Yeah. - You don't remember any-- - Of course he doesn't. It never happened. - This is? - This is it, yeah.
Does this bring back memories? ♪ ♪ - Um...
I-I dropped something. Now how do you suppose he got that idea? Dylan's mind is gradually taking
and adopting it as his own memory detail. then we took a hot air balloon ride, and possibly dropped a Superman cape.
physical sensations can be an effective trigger to bring back real or imaginary memories. - Well, when I was four or five when I was here,
fresh. to begin accepting the false memory. - I might remember, um...
Being able to overlook the water. I remember, like, standing over and squatting,
being so happy to be up there and my dad kept telling me to sit down, - [laughs] - How high up were you?
- Probably, like... - Wow. Victoria's false memory is beginning to take hold
What do you remember seeing from up in the hot air balloon? - Yeah? - And I could have been crazy, like, almost a little bit of mist hit my skin
- What color was the balloon? - Red. - Yeah. has taken hold.
and you dropped something. - You dropped something. - I did. - Ah. - And I just, like, remember
- [laughs] About where did it fall do you think? six or seven blocks away. - By now, it seems Victoria's brain
into a complete childhood experience. waking up at, like, getting in the car,
having no idea where we were going and just go somewhere, and just, like, surprise us. by merging it with pleasant details
- And next thing you know, like, we're just, like, flying over, - So who do you think was in the basket with you?
Almost I wanna say, like, a churro or something like that. [laughs] Yeah. - It's a classic. that the balloon ride happened...
- It's time for a reality check. - We went, like, on a hot air balloon ride, and I dropped, I think, my Superman cape.
Why you looking like that? - [laughing] No, Dylan. That never happened. - Wait, what? - There was never
Well, you made most of it up. Because, remember, we planted that story.
I-I was actually having these-- of me, like, looking over, like the pond, - Has Dylan been to Echo Park before?
for a rude awakening from her father. - What? Why would you make that up? - Did you truly believe
- You remembered so many details... that never happened. - Yes. - So what were you remembering?
because I really do feel like I have a memory. - I really felt like I had experienced that experience.
- Well, Tim, I'll tell you what. It's not surprising - I knew it. [laughing] - Tim wasn't susceptible.
and can have real-world implications. that faulty eye-witness memories overturned by DNA evidence.
So who are you? You are always changing. and your memories can be altered
in the end, who are you really? you're telling yourself, thanks for watching.
♪ ♪