The fading of negative experiences

Active suppression weakens unwanted memories A natural disaster, a dented car, an injured person - memories of traumatic experiences can be controlled by deliberately suppressing the images that arise. Until now, however, it was unclear what happens to the memory in the process and how the process is reflected in the brain. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences have now shown: The memories of the experiences fade and their traces in the brain are less strongly reactivated when we try to remember them. Many people have made negative experiences in their lives that they would prefer not to remember. However, there are sometimes moments when the events come back to life. Often, such unwanted memories are triggered by actually quite harmless objects that were also present during the original experience: The rubber boot that reminds us of the flood; the shoe for the car accident; the teddy bear of the injured child. However, earlier studies had found that if a person actively pushes the emerging images out of their consciousness, the associated scenes become more difficult to remember afterwards.