imagination inflation

Imagination inflation is a psychological phenomenon where vividly imagining a certain event increases the likelihood of believing it actually happened. Essentially, when people repeatedly picture an event in their mind—like meeting a famous person or getting lost in a mall—they can start to mistakenly remember it as a real memory. This occurs because imagining something vividly taps into the same mental processes as real memories, leading the brain to confuse imagination with actual experience. As a result, imagined events can feel more familiar and plausible over time, influencing our perceptions of what is true.