Everyone has memories they would rather forget, and they may know the triggers that bring them bouncing back. Bad memories can underlie a number of problems, from post-traumatic stress disorder to phobias.
When an unwanted memory intrudes on the mind, it is a natural human reaction to want to block it out. A hundred years ago, Freud suggested that humans have a mechanism that they can use to block unwanted memories out of consciousness.
Neuroimaging studies have observed which brain systems play a part in deliberate forgetting, and studies have shown that it is possible for people deliberately to block memories from consciousness.
The more we dwell on a memory or rehearse the specific events surrounding the memory, the stronger these neuronal connections become. For a long time, people thought that the older the memory, the more fixed it is, but this is not necessarily true. Each time we revisit a memory, it becomes flexible again.
The connections appear to become malleable, and then they reset. The memory can change a little each time we recall it, and it resets stronger and more vividly with every recall. This process of strengthening is called reconsolidation. Reconsolidation can change our memories slightly for better or for worse.
Manipulating this process can do the same. If something frightens us when we are young, the memory of that event can become a little more frightening each time we recall it, leading to a fear that may be out of proportion with the real event. A small spider that frightened us once may get bigger in our minds over time. A phobia can result. In contrast, casting a humorous light on an embarrassing memory, for example, by weaving it into a funny story, can mean that in time, it loses its power to embarrass.
A social gaff can become a party piece. Many people find that bad experiences stand out in the memory more than good ones. They intrude on our consciousness when we do not want them to. Researchers have shown that bad memories really are more vivid than good ones, possibly due to the interaction between the emotions and the memories.
This is particularly so when the emotions and memories are negative. Neuroimaging has shown scientists that the process of encoding and retrieving bad memories involves the parts of the brain that process emotions, specifically the amygdala and the orbitofrontal cortex. It seems the stronger the emotions associated with the memory, the more detail we will recall.
In , scientists at the University of Cambridge showed for the first time which brain mechanisms are involved in substituting and suppressing memories. They found that a person can suppress a memory, or force it out of awareness, by using a part of the brain, known as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, to inhibit activity in the hippocampus. The hippocampus plays a key role in remembering events.
They can do this by using two regions called the caudal prefrontal cortex and the mid-ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. These areas are important for bringing specific memories into the conscious mind, in the presence of distracting memories.
Suppressing a memory involves shutting down parts of the brain that are involved in recall. To substitute a memory, those same regions must be actively engaged in redirecting the memory way towards a more attractive target. Michael Anderson, likens this to either slamming on the brakes in a car or steering to avoid a hazard.
The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging fMRI to observe the brain activity of participants during an activity. This activity involved learning associations between pairs of words, and then trying to forget the memories by either recalling alternative ones to substitute them or blocking them out.
Results showed that both strategies are equally effective, but that different neural circuits are activated. In post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD , people who have experienced a traumatic life event are troubled by unwanted memories that insist on intruding into the consciousness. Knowing more about how a memory can be substituted or suppressed might help people with this debilitating condition. The mental context in which a person perceives an event affects how the mind organizes the memories of that event.
Seriously: It's called hyperthymesia , and it's not necessarily a good thing. Most people have memories they'd rather not think about, but is it actually possible to force yourself to forget something entirely? That's the question posed by researchers at Dartmouth and Princeton Universities in a study published in this month's Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. Like most studies measuring recall, participants were given two list of unrelated words and asked to memorize as many as they could.
However, some participants were then asked to forget the first list prior to reading the second. Researchers interspersed these words with images of outdoor scenes in the hopes that participants would unconsciously associated the images with the list of words; in other words, they were hoping the images would be considered context for the memories.
During the memorization process, participants underwent an fMRI scan measuring brain activity by way of blood flow. Here's where it gets interesting: Thanks to the fMRI images, researchers were able to track how much people thought about the outdoor images. When participants were asked to forget words, researchers found that their brains "flushed out" context-related activity. The amygdala plays an important role in emotional response.
The ability to sense and remember fear played an essential role in the evolution of the human race. Recent research has discovered that good and bad memories are actually rooted in different parts of the amygdala, in separate groups of neurons. This proves that your mind physically reconstructs good and bad memories differently. Memories of pain and trauma are difficult to forget, but there are ways to manage them. Although research is progressing quickly, there are no drugs available yet that can erase particular memories.
With some hard work, however, you can find a way to prevent bad memories from continuously popping into your head. You can also work to remove the emotional element of those memories, making them much easier to tolerate. Post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD is a condition that occurs after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. The event may involve a real or…. Here are psychologists' take on it. An introvert is often thought of as a quiet, reserved, and thoughtful individual.
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Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Mental Health. Medically reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, Ph. How to forget How memory works Good vs. How to forget painful memories. How does memory work? How we remember good vs. The bottom line. Read this next.
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