There are certain memories we would rather forget. Embarrassing moments, traumatic events, or conflicts with other people that caused you stress are just some of them.
Previous research on intentional forgetting say that one should divert attention away from these memories.
But a new research would like to add that there is a moderate level of attention that would help us to forget certain experiences and memories.
Memories are not static. They are dynamic constructions of the brain that regularly get updated, modified, and reorganized through experience. The brain is constantly remembering and forgetting information—and much of this happens automatically during sleep.
“A moderate level of brain activity is critical to this forgetting mechanism. Too strong, and it will strengthen the memory; too weak, and you won’t modify it,” says lead author Tracy Wang, a psychology postdoctoral fellow.
(Image credit: Duong Tran Quoc/Unsplash)
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It's interesting, and sometimes bothersome, the memories your brain decides to forget and which ones your brain keeps. Some are embarrassing and you'd love to just wipe it. My siblings always ask me "hey remember when you did this" "remember you used to do this". They remembered things from childhood, but my brain was like "nope".
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