E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
FeaturePics Stock
Got a bad memory? The brain has a unique way of helping you forget.
Say you’re on a date and you trip and fall so your dress rides up and he sees your underwear. Or your boss tells you that for the third year in the row there will be no raises. Both of these experiences feel uncomfortable, but what do you do to forget these awkward memories? Researchers found that we use two different ways -- suppression or substitution -- to avoid thinking of uncomfortable or unhappy memories.
“We assume that, in everyday life, healthy people will use a mixture of both mechanisms to prevent an unwanted memory from coming to mind,” says Roland Benoit, a scientist at the Medical Research Council, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at University of Cambridge, via email. “We did not know whether the processes of direct suppression and thought substitution can be isolated, and which, if any of them, would actually cause forgetting.”
Roland and his co-author, Michael Anderson, asked 36 adults to participate in a memory exercise where half suppressed memories and the other half substituted new memories. The researchers hoped to understand how we voluntarily forget and how it affects general memory. The subjects were tested during magnetic resonance imaging procedures, or MRIs, allowing the researchers to observe how the brain works during suppression and substitution.
While both processes cause forgetting, a different region of the brain controls each one. When people suppress memories, the dorsal prefrontal cortex inhibits activation in the hippocampus, which plays an important role in retaining memories.
“It thus effectively breaks the remembering process. This, in turn, disrupts the memory representations that would be necessary for recalling the unwanted memory later on,” Benoit explains.
When it comes to substitution, the brain works a bit differently -- the caudal prefrontal cortex and midventrolateral prefrontal cortex form a network of sorts that works with the hippocampus to swap out new information with details people would soon forget.
“By just looking at how well people forgot memories, you couldn’t tell whether they had done direct suppression or thought substitution,” Benoit says. “These mechanisms are based on different brain systems that work in opposite fashion: One (direct suppression) by ‘slamming the mental break’ to stop the remembering process and the other (thought substitution) by steering the remembering process towards a substitute memory.”
Even though people exploit both to forget those nagging, unwanted memories, actively overlooking unpleasant events can negatively impact how we remember. But Benoit notes that learning how people deal with unwanted memories helps them understand how people with traumatic memories, such as PTSD sufferers, cope with remembering.
“It is perfectly natural for people, upon encountering an unwelcome reminder, to try to put the unpleasant reminding out of mind. We all have experienced this. Intuitively, it feels as though we solved this problem.”
More from The Body Odd:
- Condition makes man's scalp look like surface of brain
- Screech! Sounds which are worse than nails on a chalkboard
- Condition makes man's scalp look like surface of the brain
Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.
Leave a Comment:
A 22-year old man had his girl friend walked out on him. A week later, he won $31 million with a lottery ticket. He said the pain is gone. LOL
31 million would make me forget alot of things too...
While experiencing deep profound stress (not my dress blowing up) my memory has got really bad, however the traumatic memories still keep me awake at night. No matter what I try, the tape keeps running. The expression 'if it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger' is so not true. I am a broken person from my experiences. Sure, I am alive but I am skeleton of my former self.
me too , thanks for putting this into words as I have been struggling today.
I'm sorry to hear of your troubles and hope that you are getting some help to deal with the anxiety they cause. I've experienced what you describe and wanted to tell you that things WILL improve. I am now able to look back at that memory without pain. It's in the "learning experience" category. While I'll never be the "same" as I was before my meltdown, I'm better in so many other ways that it truly balances out.
You may need to seek out therapy to deal with this. I have an anxiety disorder and OCD, and every little thing gets played back over and over in my head, too. I benefited from cognitive therapy and rarely have to use my medication. Wishing you the best ...
I have a terrible memory as well. My best friends are my cats. My favorite cat was 17 years old. She was struggling from stomach cancer and a debilitating digestive disorder called IBD in which she could not eat any commercial food. The only thing she could keep down was ground turkey that I bought at the supermarket and cooked for her. She stopped eating and drinking herself and thus I needed to assist feed her. She then began to develop bloating which probably was from a distended colon or small intestines. But she would still purr when I pet her and she meowed to me when I was out for some time because she was lonely. She had cancer in her left hind leg and the vet said that her leg needed to be amputated or she would die from it. That was back in December 2012 before she developed the stomach cancer and while she was still able to eat some commercial food on her own. I had the vet amputate her leg. After that, she started to urinate and defecate all around the house. My wife went nuts about it. This continued for months. I have 3 little kids and there was a hygiene issue also. A week and a half ago, the cat had respiratory distress due to pneumonia. The vet said that she really should be put to sleep which I did not want to do because I loved my cat so so dearly. He gave me antibiotics and said the best thing was for her to take the meds and try to clear it on her own. She defecated all day with diarrhea behind a furniture and I did not realize it until the evening. My wife threatened to leave with the kids which meant she would abduct them back to her native country Japan which does not even follow the Hague convention for returning children of abduction and the abductors to justice. I made the cat lay near (in a clean spot) while I cleaned up her massive mess. In the middle of that night around 3 am, she again urinated on the floor. Again, I made her lay near (in a clean place) while I cleaned it up and at one point she (the cat) tried to run from the spot and I was so upset that I slammed her back down and too hard for a frail 17 year old cat. She immediately began a non-stop crying of agonizing pain. I was immediately heart-broken that I had unintentionally hurt my cat that I loved so much. I felt around her ribs and bones but could not feel any fractures. But she continued to cry in agonizing pain. I could not stand it (the incredible guilt and her cries of pain) and went into another room to try and get some sleep so that I would be able to think clearly. The next morning at around 7:30am, she was still crying but with depleted energy from crying all night. I could not stand seeing her in such agonizing pain anymore. I unfortunately do not have a gun (or even a permit) and thus a quick shot to the head in the yard (I live on a farm in a rural district) was not an option. I did not want to do this at the vet. I wanted it over asap. So, I took a pillow and suffocated her. Part way through, I lifted the pillow and she gasped for air and cried in terror. This is something that I will regret and have to live with the guilt until the day I die. At that point, there was no turning back, I put the pillow over her nose and mouth again and suffocated her to death. At the end, she really tried to pull away. Despite her illnesses, she did NOT want to die. My wife came home shortly after. I told her that the cat died of a heart attack or something. With my cat lying dead in our office, my wife started to complain hugely to me about our need to purchase new beds (I have been out of work for a while). I had to listen to this from her while my beloved cat of 17 years had (from her perspective) just died. There was no feeling what so ever for my loss. I now regret not at least taking my cat to the vet to be euthanized. However, my wife had threatened me that she would leave if I took her to the vet so it was not really possible. I wish I had given myself even just one day to think it over rather than acting impulsively. I could have put her in a cage rather than taking her life. But, if having to choose between my cat or my kids, the kids win. This coming Tuesday will be 3 weeks. Thank god for giving human minds the ability to forget. During the several days after I took her life, I would awake at night with my cat's scream that she had made when I killed her vivid in my head. Thankfully that memory sting is becoming duller. While some might read this and think that I am a bad individual, actually, I love animals and basically am probably one of the most loving of animals around. I am basically even a vegetarian (except) fish partly because I love animals so much. My neighbor across the street had to put down his 16 year old dog many years ago. He is a 70 year old farmer and raises livestock and chickens. Shooting animals that threaten his livestock, animals on his farm that he feels it is time to be put down, and putting down pets is something he is used to doing. He firmly believes that a gunshot to the head in the home yard is far more humane than dragging the ill pet to a vet (which they are scared of) and having a doctor inject them. He tells me that I did the best that I could have done and that my cat really did need to be put down because she was so ill. I want to believe that and I want the pain to continue to dull.
Sue, I found that the anti-depressant Wellbutrin helped me. I was caught in an obsessive rut over stress at work. This definitely helped. Meditation is good too. So was quitting a rotten job at a horrible company.
I hate the idea of suppressing unpleasant memories. If anything I pick at them like a scab, not obsessively mind you, but just enough to keep them alive to use them as a contrast point. One can achieve a cathartic experience from mental anguish through expression like art or music or writing or working out in the gym. I think it's healthier than hiding behind a wall of medication.
The best advice I have been given in dealing with a bad incident is that in seven days, things will be different. This was from a professional football player, who had to deal with his team losing from time to time, and sometimes from mistakes he made.
As for my memories that come flooding back, re. abuse and such, I have to stop and look around me, and say, "I'm not there anymore," and purposefully recall two or more good memories.
And bsgcic2, I am sorry about your cat.
I hope that your writing it all out and posting it will help lessen your pain, as that was something else I was told to do, regarding my own memories. If you take your memories, write them down, and physically put them someplace, like in a drawer, then that's suppose to be like making room in your memory banks for some fresh stuff. But you still have to choose to make the new memories or the old ones will come back to fill up and overflow the nice, clean empty area.
Talking and writing about it makes it worse, at least for me. I can recall every moment of the most horrible things that have happened to me or that I've seen. I can also recall, with painful clarity, every stupid and embarrassing thing I've done or said. Whatever it is that "normal" people use to forget, mine seems to use it to etch those things in stone.
My daughter got hit by a car while she was out walking on September 21st, and I still see her, lying broken and bloody in the street as paramedics and firemen try to stabilize her to get her to the helicopter. I'll be fine for half an hour, and then the images and sounds and smells slam into my brain, and I'm right there again. Thankfully, she doesn't remember anything before the helicopter ride and she's doing okay aside from a destroyed knee and post-concussion syndrome, but no matter how hard I try to tell myself that she's okay, she's safe now, it just won't go away.
My first memory is of an extremely traumatic event that happened when I was 3. I suppose that trauma and the others that came after probably had a part in shaping how my brain handles memory. I just wish I could recall happy memories with the same clarity.
I'm in the same boat. My traumatic experiences are seared into my memory like brands. The only thing that turns down their volume, temporarily, is distraction, keeping busy - but they're always there, like gravity, waiting for me to slip. I can only imagine how much better I would function if I weren't expending so much energy just trying to fight them off.
.."slamming the mental brake" Please, who edits these columns?
I find all sorts of annoying grammar and spelling errors in these articles every day, yet I fail to see your issue with the metaphor of a brake in the mind (a brake being a noun describing a device which stops a vehicle).
Perhaps you were confusing it with break (being a noun that describes an occurrence that stops an action abruptly)?
The author used it correctly here as far as I can see. The only fault I find is that it is somewhat cliché, but if we started quibbling about clichés in the media, we'd be here for a very long time.
original comment deleted
"Break" was, in fact, used incorrectly in the article. It reads, "slamming the mental break".
'slamming a brake' is a metaphor for pushing on a vehicles brakes suddenly and hard. It does not make sense to 'slam on a break' as in taking a break from an activity. It is hard to take an author seriously when they do not check the spelling and grammar of material they publish, it shows sloppiness and carelessness.
Memories that involve danger are handled in a different manor than a memory of embarrassment or disappointment. In order to survive, every animal needs to recognize and avoid danger. In order to avoid danger we need to remember it.
People with PSTD feared for their lives so the way that memory is stored is entirely different. Therefore
this research will have little value to PTSD treatment.
Hmm this helps too, thanks.
Traumatic memories surface for me quite often. Intense exercise helps considerably. Alternatively, I focus on the present moment and remind myself of things in life I can be grateful for.
good that you found a means to help ---
As a teenager, I had surgery on both of my knees for arthritis. Years later I asked my Mom why she took me to an orthopedic surgeon. She was shocked that I had (and still) have no recollection of her having to help me get on and off the school bus everyday because the pain in my knees would make me be in tears "for hours" after.
Glad to know that I'm not crazy for not remembering.
I have experienced more of the suppression aspect of the memory, where my subconscious actually shuts off the memory because it is too painful to deal with. So, I think the substitution is more of a conscious process where you can control the redirection of thought. I think either method is helpful because the brain can require the avoidance of the painful memories when it is recovering from trauma. I think it is untrue that you have the relive time and time again the negative memories in order to recover from them. I think the more likely scenario is that when the brain recovers, you are then able to deal with those memories that are inevitable.
I've found that drinking helps.
No amount of "direct suppression and thought substitution" can help me forget 8 years of W. Bush and the destruction he brought to this country.
But this must work because you have people that are willing to FORGET, SUPPRESS and SUBSTITUTE an even more despicable couple of people in Robme/Lyin. So I guess this process must work for only those of weak mind like Republicans.
Please tell me how you've been able to suppress/substitute the Republican SCOTUS ruling of "Citizens United" that has turned our government into a bunch of HOOKERS? I really want to know???
I wrote a whole bunch siding with you, and decided that I really don't want to remember what I wrote, as I got so angry about Dick Cheney and his sock puppet. (I wonder if as an organ donor, I can say that I don't want one scrap of DNA going to certain people.)
Never thought mental troubles would bring me down.
Depression and PTSD.
Very real, disabling. Finally sought help and with the help, took almost a year to find which drugs helped me. Not near %100, but feeling better and getting stronger. Don't just pull the covers over your head, seek help.
This economy and all the crap in the world is driving everyone crazy.
FASANATING This explains "Romneisa"
I get on a train. It goes to a warmer place. The bad memories fade.
I find this post interesting in light of a recent article I read about a Dutch study that found beta-blockers might be effective in erasing traumatizing memories. The implications of this are compelling - if we can erase these kinds of memories, we might be able to treat ptsd or phobias or a number of trauma-induced disorders. However, the act of erasing memories is not to be taken lightly, as the article states, "'Removing bad memories is not like removing a wart or a mole. It will change our personal identity since who we are is linked to our memories. It may perhaps be beneficial in some cases, but before eradicating memories, we must reflect on the knock-on effects that this will have on individuals, society and our sense of humanity."
This post discusses the ways in which our brain naturally helps us eliminate memories that can be unpleasant and distressing - would taking a pill to achieve this be going too far? It sounds a bit like science-fiction.
Of course there are experiences in my life that I would like to forget, but at the same time those experiences contribute to my sense of personal continuity and identity. They have made me who I am. Perhaps a drug like this could be reserved for only the most extreme cases, where the person receiving the drug is fully aware of the consequences of potentially disrupting personal continuity and sense of self.
I think this also points to a question about what goes wrong in the brains of those with PTSD and other disorders - where do the natural mechanisms of memory suppression and substitution that this post talks about go wrong for these people? Perhaps looking into that might help alleviate some of the ethical problems that might arise from a "memory-erasing" drug.