How to erase the memories, or to forget irrelevant information

In the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" lovers erased memories of each other after the break. What was once looked fantastic, the reality is that we can do to erase the memories whenever you wish.

1. What memories are made?

Flashback - this is not a one-dimensional thought or idea. This is the amount of impressions of concrete events of your past. You do not memorize a point in time, and the set of sensory details.

For example, if you try to recall a pleasant day spent on the beach as a child, in the memory there is not only the image of the river. You will remember how warm was the sand, the smell of the wind and the taste of the ice cream purchased at the kiosk across the street.

Any of these experiences can be a trigger. When you buy ice cream, similar in taste to the one from childhood, you are transported back again on a hot day on the river beach.

Thus, the memories can not be separated from the context.

2. How to manage the memories?

Context - the most important factor for the one who wants to learn how to manage their memories. After all, it can be used to fix the memory. The wider and brighter context, the stronger we remember the event.

Let's go back to the remembrance about a hot day on the beach. Advisable that you remember details, environment, emotions and feelings. Then it will be formed by the context.

If you remember within easy river water, warm sand coast, red-hot asphalt track near your umbrella and creamy taste of ice cream, the memory of this day will be very bright and full for long years. The wider context, the more varied experience. That is what we bring back memories of when reminded of a hot day spent in childhood.

So, if we know how to use context to create memories, we can find a way to erase its memory?

3. How can I erase the memory?

forgetting strategy can be as follows: afford to forget some details of the event, to destroy the memory completely.

To test this hypothesis, the researchers conducted a study in which two groups of participants. They had to learn the words of two separate lists, and at the same time to look at pictures of different landscapes to create a context memories.

One group was told to approach the task very carefully: to memorize a list of words first, and only then proceed to the second. The subjects of the second group was asked to first learn the words, and then forget them. Then the volunteers had to repeat what they have memorized.

the brain activity of the participants of the experiment was studied using functional MRI. It turned out that subjects who forgot learned words, there was a much lower level of activity of the part of the brain that is responsible for image processing. This group of participants just let the words and images to slip from memory.

When the brain is trying to memorize words, facts, images, he is constantly working on a context. When the brain is trying to forget something, he initially rejects the context and abstracted from it. Because the memory is created with difficulty and there are short-lived.

Going back to the example of the beach, we can say this: to forget this day, you would be worth to specifically try to forget the taste of ice cream and hot sand under your feet.

4. Can I remove the memory full?

Does this method always at 100%? Of course not. To say that scientists have discovered a way to forget the magic, like in the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," it is impossible. We know about the brain and memory too little and we do not know how to erase memories.

Forgetting is very useful. We can use it in order to make it easier to go through a traumatic experience or a painful event. Forgetting is necessary to clear the brain from unnecessary information.

In the experiment, the participants memorize and forget the simple things: words and pictures. Real memories - tens of parts and sensory impressions, so delete it is not so simple. But this study - the first step in the beginning of a very intriguing and alluring way.

It seems that we can understand how to forget the unpleasant and unnecessary things. More importantly, we learn to remember the happy days and moments for a lifetime.