How does the brain forget unwanted memories? This study might have answered it

There are memories that we hold closer to our hearts, and some moments that we would rather not revisit. But have you wondered how over a period of time some of these memories vanished away from our thoughts? Or more so the brain removes the unwanted memories. 

A recent research found that people can consciously remove specific information from their working memory. This study also gives us an insight into how the brain clears the space in our memory and can also provide a reason as to how people manage unpleasant recollections. 

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The study 'EEG Correlates of Active Removal from Working Memory', published in the Journal of Neuroscience, saw the researchers come to an understanding that the brain can intentionally suppress the traces of memories with the help of specific neural mechanisms. 

This was found through brain scans that showed reduced excitability in the brain regions that were linked to the forgotten item. For the purpose of the study, the brain activity of 30 participants was analysed after they were given memory tasks. 

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"The removal of no-longer-relevant information from working memory is critical for the flexible control of behavior. However, to our knowledge, the only explicit accounts of this operation describe the simple withdrawal of attention from that information (i.e., “passive removal”). Here, with measurements of behavior and electroencephalography (EEG), we provide evidence for a specific mechanism for the active removal of information from WM–hijacked adaptation–via the top-down triggering of an adaptation-like down-regulation of gain of the perceptual circuits tuned to the to-be-removed information. These results may have implications for disorders of mental health, including rumination, intrusion of negative thoughts, and hallucination," mentioned the authors. 

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