What’s behind the “Mandela Effect,” where groups of people remember things differently from how they actually happened?

The Mandela Effect is a fascinating phenomenon where a large group of people remember something incorrectly, often with vivid certainty. It’s named after people who mistakenly remembered Nelson Mandela dying in prison in the 1980s when he actually passed away in 2013. It’s thought to be a result of collective false memories, where social influences, suggestions, and the brain’s tendency to fill in gaps contribute to shared but inaccurate recollections.