Warum erinnern wir uns an einige Lebensmomente – aber nicht andere. Untersuchungen ergaben, dass Erinnerungen an weltliche Momente extra klebenskraft erhalten, wenn sie mit einem bedeutenden Ereignis verbunden sind – etwas überraschend, lohnend oder einen emotionalen Schlag,

Think back to some of your core memories–meeting a spouse, getting a job you really wanted, or finding out someone you loved had died. Some are pretty easy to recall, with vivid details that seem as fresh as the moment itself. Other memories might feel more ambiguous and faded, while the most stubborn ones don’t come up at all. Why this discrepancy between memories, both good and bad?

A study published today in the journal Science Advances found that mundane memories get extra sticking power in the brain if they are connected to a significant event. These events include something surprising, rewarding, or events with an emotional punch. For example, if you win the lottery, you’re more likely to remember what you were doing just before, even if it is something simple. Or you may recall what you were wearing or eating for lunch when you received some bad news. 

Understanding the brain mechanisms behind this could lead to better treatments for those with memory problems or even be used to help students retain more difficult concepts.

“Memory isn’t just a passive recording device: Our brains decide what matters, and emotional events can reach back in time to stabilize fragile memories,” study co-author Dr. Robert M.G. Reinhart, a psychologist at Boston University, said in a statement. “Developing strategies to strengthen useful memories, or weaken harmful ones, is a longstanding goal in cognitive neuroscience. Our study suggests that emotional salience could be harnessed in precise ways to achieve those goals

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ady1704

But why can I recall adverts for products that I never bought and which no longer exist? No emotional significance attached at all.

I mean.. that’s not news, is it?

I can picture this old chair we had in my basement when I was a teenager. I can picture the *exact* pattern of the fabric, the exact shape of the chair, the stitching, exactly how that material felt. All those mundane details. I probably wouldn’t even remember that particular chair at all under normal circumstances. But that’s the chair I fell into when I got the worst news of my entire life, and couldn’t get out of until my friend picked me up and walked me out of the room.

So yeah, mundane details will stand out when they are connected to bigger things.

do we we attach more significance to memories when attached to an emotional event? and perhaps with the aid of a savvy therapist, we can learn how to diminish (preferably erase) unpleasant memories?

How does it mesh with the research done on and after 9/11 that we often think we remember something because of a concurrent momentous event, but are then often wrong?