I think it's more "memory is imperfect, but in consistent ways". I.e. whatever representation people form in their heads (given a shared language, experiences,

I think it's more "memory is imperfect, but in consistent ways". I.e. whatever representation people form in their heads (given a shared language, experiences, and culture) is at least reasonably likely to put the same kind of concepts close enough together that failures in recall are liable to cause the same errors.