Scientists Reveal How We Can Forget On Purpose

An anonymous reader writes: When people say, "Forget you heard that," they don't usually mean literally. But it turns out that you can stop yourself from remembering, at least on a small scale. People can intentionally forget memories by changing how they think about the context those memories were made in, scientists reported this week in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. In the experiment, people studied a random list of words while viewing pictures of landscapes such as beaches or forests. They were then instructed to either remember or forget those words. The scientists then used an fMRI to track brain activity related to the outdoor scenes they'd planted as context for the word memories. They saw that people who'd been ordered to forget thought less about the context. The better people were at wiping nature-related thoughts from their minds, the fewer words they could later recall from their list.

A bit early

[Dareth]

A bit early for Hillary Clinton to start interviewing for staff when she hasn't won yet.

"They saw that people who'd been ordered to forget thought less about the context. The better people were at wiping nature-related thoughts from their minds, the fewer words they could later recall from their list."

Re:

[PopeRatzo]

In all, Reagan said ``I don`t recall`` or ``I can`t remember`` 88 times in the eight hours of testimony taken Feb. 16-17 in Los Angeles.

At one point, Reagan said he could not identify Gen. John Vessey, who served for more than three years as his chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At other times, he said he could not identify a picture of contra leader Adolfo Calero, could not recall a shipment of Hawk missiles to Iran in November 1985, had no memory of signing one presidential finding relating to the sh

"Forgot" or "don't bother to remember"?

[wonkey_monkey]

To me, "deliberately forgetting" and "not bothering to remember" are two slightly different things.

Might have been good to have a third group who weren't told to remember or forget.

Re:

[Carewolf]

To me, "deliberately forgetting" and "not bothering to remember" are two slightly different things.

No that would seem to be the most efficient way of forgetting. If you don't forget things you are interested in, so the only way of forgetting is by deliberately not bothering to remember.

anyone remember

[turkeydance]

Mis-remember?

not quite there yet

[Anonymous Coward]

Alcohol almost does the trick, but it would really be nice to have something that would erase all of my memories up until I was about 20 or so and away from my Christian fundamentalist parents. Complete amnesia might work, too. Not sure if there are many memories I care to have at all. Would not mind waking up in a hospital not having a single memory about my life or anyone in it.

Downside with alcohol is that I can feel my mind beginning to go. If HAL could feel, this must be what he felt like.

Would tha

Re:

[RabidReindeer]

Alcohol is simply self-medication with one of the cruder drugs available.

If you can't leave your upbringing behind you, the first thing you should consider is to see a professional about behavior modification, especially if you're constantly (obsessively) replaying the past in your mind. If simple talk therapy and exercises don't suffice, see a psychiatrist who can try prescribing something. Be prepared to discover 2 things, however: 1) a lot of psychatrists will be crazier than you are (at least if they're

Re:

[ageoffri]

I saw a therapist just yesterday who said that it is a service now available to do DNA testing and at least get an idea of which categories of drugs you'll likely have a good response, bad response or no response. She said she just had a client go to the place for the first time and was going to see how it works out for that client.

Polar bears

[s1d3track3D]

So you can forget as long as it's not a polar bear... :) (ref: http://www.apa.org/monitor/201... [apa.org])

Short term memory vs. long term

[chipschap]

The article itself is light on detail and doesn't say whether the "forgetting" was short or long term, which are two very different things.

Various things prevent transfer of a memory from short to long term. If you've had surgery and were given Versed as part of anesthesia, you'll likely experience anterograde amnesia. You'll lose the memories from just before the time you got the Versed.

Concussions are similar. You can lose hours or days of memory (this happened to me once) but you won't lose anything tha

Sounds like an argument against universalism

[bretts]

They saw that people who'd been ordered to forget thought less about the context.

The less specific something is, the less our minds can place it, and so it becomes generic and forgotten. A good way to erase culture, learning, and independent thought.

There's an easier way.

[twotacocombo]

Hey man, you ever try to remember something.. on weeeeeeed?

Join the ...

[i.r.id10t]

Why not join the Klatchian Foreign Legion ?

From the L-Space Wiki - http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawi... [lspace.org]

"The Klatchian Foreign Legion is an army of expatriates operating in the desert of Klatch (continent). The official purpose of the legion is to guard the rather vague border against neighboring countries as well as the D'regs. It is most commonly joined by people who are trying to put their past behind them as after a short time most people who join have forgotten almost everything, including their names and