Study: Forgetting the work of the brain is more difficult than remembering

March 11 (UPI) – Releasing information may require more work than keeping it, according to a new study.

To forget a memorable experience, people must use more mental energy to reorient themselves than just to remember, according to the findings published Monday in the Journal of Neuroscience.

"We may want to forget the memories that trigger maladaptive reactions, such as traumatic memories, in order to be able to respond to new experiences in a more adaptive way," said Jarrod Lewis-Peacock, lead author of the study and researcher at the University of Texas. A press release.

"Decades of research have shown that we can voluntarily forget something, but the way our brain does this is always in question, once we can understand how memories are weakened and find ways to control this, we can design a treatment to help people get rid of unwanted memories. "

Memories are not just frozen. They are rather revised and modified over time, according to the researchers.

Forgetting things, they say, forces the brain to use moderate brain activity compared to what it takes to keep the memory intact.

"Moderate brain activity is essential to this forgetfulness mechanism, too strong will strengthen memory, too weak, and you will not change it," Tracy Wang, researcher at the University of Texas and lead author of the study, said in a press release.

"It is important to note that the intention to forget increases the activation of memory, and when this activation reaches the threshold of" moderate level ", it is at that time that this leads to the subsequent forgetting of this experience. "

Researchers used neuroimaging to locate patterns of brain activity, after showing participants in the study images representing images and faces. They asked them to forget or remember each image.

Exercise has shown researchers that it's easier for people to get rid of the memory of faces.

"We are learning how these mechanisms in our brain respond to different types of information, and it will take a lot of extra research and replication of this work before we understand how to harness our ability to forget," said Lewis-Peacock. "We are not looking for the source of attention in the brain, but its sight."