Scientists Decode the Secret of Nostalgia

By Alex in Science & Tech on Dec 18, 2008 at 1:41 pm

Why do old people think life was great in their younger days? Science finds out the answer: our brain remembers the good stuff and forgets the bad ones!

Report author Professor Roberto Cabeza, from Duke University, North Carolina, United States, said: "Older people have learned to be less affected by negative information in order to maintain their well being and emotional state.

"They may have sacrificed more accurate memory for a negative stimulus, so that they won’t be so affected by it. Perhaps at different stages of life, there are different brain strategies.

"Younger adults might need to keep an accurate memory for both positive and negative information in the world.

"Older people dwell in a world with a lot of negatives, so perhaps they have learned to reduce the impact of negative information and remember in a different way."

Link

Tags: Brain, good old days, nostalgia, old people

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AndyIII
Dec 18th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I totally believe this…over time when I think back on past girlfriends or whatever, I can already remember them fondly and it takes some digging to remember the reasons we split…and generally there are very very good reasons.
Gauldar
Dec 18th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I can agree with that. I didn’t have that great of a childhood, which is probibly why I can hardly remember any of it, just a handful of memories. As for people suffering from Memory loss, one of the wonderous defence mechanisms of the brain!
Gauldar
Dec 18th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Oops, I think half-way in that last sentence I forgot what I was writting about.
Evilbeagle
Dec 18th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Sounds like a good deal to me.

I had a very normal childhood save for a few rough patches that were very rough. However, the older I get, the more idealized childhood becomes for me.
Max Power
Dec 18th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Old news, very old news. Sorry!
Rocky Rook
Dec 18th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
This is news to me. And it makes sense.
Orjan Morjan
Dec 18th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Common knowledge? I’ve heard it from old people.
Johnny Cat
Dec 18th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Closely linked is the fact that the brain cannot precisely remember what excruciating pain feels like. That info just gets dumped, in an effort to protect itself from lingering trauma.
Travis
Dec 18th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I have an uncle who told me,”The good old days? There wasn’t anything good about them. Those were the bad old days.”
zav
Dec 18th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
You must mean “forgets the bad ones”. Not forget. There needs to be an s there.
Jacki
Dec 18th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I feel like a senior citizen already…

I don’t really remember a lot in the years when was in heavy depression. But now, the things I do seem to remember are generally the good and fun times. Erasing the bad. Haha.
Mouserz
Dec 18th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
geeze, I could have told you that.
Timmothy
Dec 18th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Science is doing its best to kill God and the human spirit.
Easy
Dec 18th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Pish pish I thought everyone knew this.

You look at the past through rose-tinted goggles, right?
Alex
Dec 18th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Yes – *forgets* – I edited the sentence and forgot to change the verb form/tense. Thanks zav!
Gauldar
Dec 18th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Timmothy, All gods are dead. Thor, Osirus, Zeus… They served their purpose, now it’s time to move on.
Bryce Rasmussen
Dec 18th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Wow, i fit wasn’t for those amazing scientists decoding stuff that’s obvious to a ten year old-yup, without science there’s no way I would have known something as deep and mysterious as “Brain remember good stuff.” Real journal of irreproducible results kinda material, there.
Now can we see some real science?
donna
Dec 19th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Oh, please. we remember the bad stuff, too.

But it’s a lot more fun to remember the fun things, really.
zav
Dec 19th, 2008 at 2:19 am
Thanks Alex.
Robolasse
Dec 19th, 2008 at 6:33 am
Science isn’t what it used to be!
liphttam1
Dec 20th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Back in my day, the word for nostalgia, was crazy.
renderanything
Dec 20th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Ha ha! Vindication is mine and science is my ally! Now to see if science will team up with me to prove my other theories about life.

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