Suppressing Unwanted Memories Summary

Scientists and Practitioners Don't See Eye to Eye on Repressed Memory. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2017, from

Two structures in the brain work independently and with each other to impact memory and emotions: the amygdala and the hippocampus. The amygdala is linked to fear-conditioning, while the hippocampus is linked to episodic memories, which are those memories that a person can recall whenever wanted [1]. An experiment was performed to demonstrate the independence of the two structures from each other which involved patients with lesions in the amygdala and patients with lesions in the hippocampus. Researchers designed a fear-condition wherein a blue patch applied to the wrist initiated a shock. They found that patients with lesions in the amygdala had no physiological response to the conditioned stimulus (the blue patch) [2], whereas patients with lesions in the hippocampus demonstrated appropriate

Lately we were researching about electrical stimulation of the hippocampus. Some expertssaid that it causes temporary amnesia – Zapping Memories Away.

There are two prominent distortions of the episodic memory system: forgetting and the false memory effect. False memory is the propensity to report an event as part of an episodic experience that was not actually present (Holliday, Brainerd, & Reyna, 2011). Several theories give an explanation for this effect, but the most prominent one is the fuzzy trace theory,

Do you think an experience can be so traumatizing that the brain pushes it into an inaccessible corner of the unconscious to later recall it years later? This concept on the mind is expressed as repressed memories. These are types of memories that are blocked unconsciously due to the high levels of stress experienced during the event. This theory on memories are based on the idea that even though the memory is repressed it is still affecting the individual in their conscious aspects of life. Repressed memories are often associated with childhood sexual abuse. This relies on the idea that these memories of sexual abuse can be brought up either in therapy or by the victim themselves years after the abuse. The concept of repressed memories has been a huge controversy in psychology from the beginning of time. Many people believe that repressed memories in regards to childhood sexual abuse are possible while others believe they can’t be as accurate as some people believe.

Have you ever had a memory that caused you pain? No, not the one about where you tripped in front of your friends, the one that you would never tell anyone because it caused you to feel emotional pain for decades on end. Well, you may have read articles talking about erasing your memories. If you have read these, then you may be disappointed when you are told they won’t cause you to feel less pain, they would only cause you more. In reality, Memory control is not ethical for the human race due to plunging your people into ignorance and accidental erasing of a person's identity

The key to intentional forgetting is what happens when memories are retrieved. The importance of retrieval has been demonstrated in studies that compare recall and recognition memory tasks. Success on either kind of task requires that items be encoded and stored. Whereas recall tasks require active search and retrieval of a memory, recognition tests present the studied item as a direct cue to memory. That item needs only to be checked against whatever representation is stored. Because the directed forgetting eVect is strong on recall tasks but weak or absent on recognition tasks, theorists have concluded that retrieval inhibition, rather than unlearning, is key to intentional forgetting (Bjork, 1989; Geiselman, Bjork, & Fishman, 1983; but see

As long as it is taken within 6 hours after the event, the drug is effective by disrupting the chemicals in the brain responsible for strengthening memory consolidation. So, technically speaking, drug treatments do not literally “erase” the bad memory, but rather prevents the memory from being stored into long-term memory. Today, researchers are looking further not only into whether memory-dampening drugs like propranolol can alleviate traumatic events, but also into whether they can alleviate traumatic events in the distant past (Marchione 2006), and the results are showing a lot of promise. Dr. Adam Kolber, a professor of law at Brooklyn Law School, believes that ethical dilemmas should not get in the way of giving hope to those whose memories prevent them from “reclaiming their lives (Kolber

In this article the authors explains how stopping unwanted memories from coming into your head is similar to stopping unwanted motor response; like evading a car crash. This article describes a way that will be most beneficial to forgetting your unwanted thoughts and memories. What this means is that if you were to knock over a cup of hot coffee with your elbow accidentally and your first reaction was to try to catch the cup preventing the spill. But about halfway to almost catching the cup you realize it will be too hot so you let it fall. This is an example of being able to control your unwanted motor skills like knowing not to catch a falling hot cup. With our brains it works the same exact way with unwanted memories; stopping the thought

This leads to my thesis which is that biological factors tend to have a negative effect on memory.

The memory part of our brain plays an important role in our everyday lives. There are a variety of problems associated with memory, some are recognizable, while others are difficult to determine. We experience some memory lapse during the day, for example, forgetting to buy milk at the grocery store or the name of the person you just met. These memory lapses are known as The Seven Sins of Memory, transience, absent-minded, blocking, suggestibility, bias, persistence, and misattribution. According to Murray, (2003), the first three are sins of omission that involve forgetting, and the second four are sins of commission that involve distorted or unwanted recollections.

Most of us hold the view that “memory is much like a tape recorder or video recorder, holding a perfectly accurate record of what has been experienced. Nothing could be further from the truth” (Thompson and Madigan 6). Memory is amazing; however, the human “memory system is far from perfect,” but it is most certainly adequate (Mlodinow 63). For the most part, it can be described as being accurate and efficient. “We may not intentionally change the details of our memories, but the process of remembering changes our memories. “Just as editing on a computer usually overwrites the original file, revisiting an event can revise your memory” (Kowalski 34).

The human brain is a big, intricate—yet delicate, structure in the human body. It is the key structure in cognitive function. Any damage to the brain does not only “erase” memories but also may “deceive” the brain to erroneously remember a new object as being familiar (2010). The innovative researchers at Cambridge University investigated this phenomenon in their research on The Paradoxial False Memory for Objects after Brain Damage.

The two main emotional factors that influence memory and forgetting are flashbulb and repression. A flashbulb memory is a memory that has a high emotional significance they are accurate and long lasting. It is almost a photographic memory of a particularly emotional event that is imprinted on your mind. For example an event such as September the 11th, people can remember things such as how they heard it happened, what clothes they were wearing and who they were with very clearly. This is because it was such a sudden emotional impact when they heard it that it got imprinted in their memory. Repression is an emotional factor in forgetting. It is that we forget because we have great anxiety about certain memories. This is because certain

It also displayed that activations in certain areas of the brain, the hippocampus and the parahippocampal cortex, predicted successful source memory recollection. Furthermore, activations in the ventral tegmental area, substantia nigra, and nucleus accumbens were linked to the processes of reward and punishment. This research extends that of Li and colleagues (2016) by mapping the brain functions. This allows for research into the specific functions of the brain and allows this experiment to be visualized and, potentially, expanded to recreate these results.