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."
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.
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.
You look at the past through rose-tinted goggles, right?
Now can we see some real science?
But it's a lot more fun to remember the fun things, really.