WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A new study shows that emotional or surprising events can help save weak memories, making them last longer. The brain doesn't just remember the big event, it can also strengthen related, everyday memories depending on when they happened and how similar they are to the main event.
'Memory isn't just a passive recording device: Our brains decide what matters, and emotional events can reach back in time to stabilize fragile memories,' study co-author Dr. Robert M.G. Reinhart, a psychologist at Boston University, explained.
'Developing strategies to strengthen useful memories, or weaken harmful ones, is a longstanding goal in cognitive neuroscience. Our study suggests that emotional salience could be harnessed in precise ways to achieve those goals.'
Researchers found that the brain works on a sliding scale, giving priority to fragile memories. The more similar a memory is to the important event, the stronger it becomes. This discovery could help improve learning methods, memory treatments, and trauma therapies.
To reach this conclusion, the study involved nearly 650 people, 10 separate experiments, and AI analysis of a large data set. In one experiment, participants were shown many images linked to different rewards. The next day, they were given a surprise memory test.
Results showed that events after a major moment (proactive memories) were easier to recall if the big event was emotionally powerful. In contrast, memories of things that happened before the event (retroactive memories) only stuck if they shared something in common with the big event, like a matching color or visual detail.
Interestingly, if those surrounding memories were emotionally strong on their own, this boosting effect didn't work as well. According to the researchers, the brain seems to focus on protecting fragile memories that might otherwise fade away.
'The discovery has broad implications for both theory and practice,' noted Reinhart. 'In education, pairing emotionally engaging material with fragile concepts could improve retention. In a clinical setting, we could potentially rescue memories that are weak, way back in the recesses of our mind because of normal aging, for example. You can flip it, too, for people with trauma-related disorders-maybe you don't want to rescue a distressing memory.'
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