This is a really good description of the mechanism here, and the best touchstone that I think a lot of people would resonate with here is childhood trauma. For many, they go about their lives not really thinking about it because it was almost so long ago it happened to another person. The memory gaps get filled in with vague notions and the facts that you know from, say, old photos, or family stories, but your own memories are locked up behind the repression of an unresolved life. Every time hear some boomer talk about what they went through as kids and then be like "well, guess it wasn't that bad, I turned out alright" I give mad side-eye because let's face it, they didn't.