<p>Several studies have suggested that negative memories fade faster than positive memories: Walker, Vogl and Thompson (1997) had the subjects kept dairy during a 3-month period, and rated the events on a pleasantness scale each time, memory tests were conducted on various intervals: 3 months, 1 year and 4.5 years. Results showed that pleasant events are remembered better compared to unpleasant ones, unpleasant ratings also decreased more than pleasant ratings compared to the original ratings. Ritchie et al.(2009) found that the fading affect for negative events is greater than its fixed affect. Kensinger (2008) found that older adults remembered positive nonarousing words better than negative nonarousing words; </p>

<p>There is Taylor's (1991) mobilization-minimization hypothesis trying to explain this phenomenon, are you aware of any studies addressing this phenomenon with neural data?</p>

<p>References</p>

<p>Kensinger, E. A. (2008). Age differences in memory for arousing and
nonarousing emotional words. Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological
Sciences and Social Sciences, 63, P13–P18.</p>

<p>Ritchie, Timothy; Skowronski, John J.; Hartnett, Jessica; Wells, Brett; Walker, W. Richard (April 2009). "The fading affect bias in the context of emotion activation level, mood, and personal theories of emotion change" (PDF). Memory. 17 (4): 428–444. doi:10.1080/09658210902791665.</p>

<p>Taylor, S. E. (1991). Asymmetrical effects of positive and negative events: the mobilization-minimization hypothesis. Psychological bulletin, 110(1), 67.</p>

<p>Walker, W. R., Vogl, R. J., &amp; Thompson, C. P. (1997). Autobiographical memory: Unpleasantness fades faster than pleasantness over time. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 11(5), 399-413.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-04T09:20:26.670Z
Hi Sophy. why do you think bad memories decay faster than good memories? Do you have some scientific research that could back up that statement? Regarding question 2, there are some questions on this site about decay of memory. I will try to look them up for you.
Robin Kramer-ten Have
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-04T09:25:29.460Z
The question http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/q/9595/11318 already explains a lot about memories and forgetting, but the answers is also interesting. Here is the maths behind forgetting: http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/q/5199/11318 . For other questions you can search for "memory decay" or "forgetting curve".
Robin Kramer-ten Have
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-04T10:19:17.450Z
Yeah, I agree with Robin,  ever heard of posttraumatic stress disorder? PSD is accompanied by persistent,  explicitly bad memories. You should back this question up with research. -1, vote to close being unclear. Feel free to edit. Happy to remove vote after edits. PS,  due to multiple questions it's too broad too. Sorry for nagging.
AliceD
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-06T19:29:00.483Z
Great edit, +1. Close vote retracted.
AliceD
<neuroscience><cognitive-neuroscience><emotion><memory><neurophysiology>
What neural mechanism explains the phenomenon that bad memories fade faster than good ones?
Sophy
# What neural mechanism explains the phenomenon that bad memories fade faster than good ones?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-09-03)

Several studies have suggested that negative memories fade faster than positive memories: Walker, Vogl and Thompson (1997) had the subjects kept dairy during a 3-month period, and rated the events on a pleasantness scale each time, memory tests were conducted on various intervals: 3 months, 1 year and 4.5 years. Results showed that pleasant events are remembered better compared to unpleasant ones, unpleasant ratings also decreased more than pleasant ratings compared to the original ratings. Ritchie et al.(2009) found that the fading affect for negative events is greater than its fixed affect. Kensinger (2008) found that older adults remembered positive nonarousing words better than negative nonarousing words;

There is Taylor's (1991) mobilization-minimization hypothesis trying to explain this phenomenon, are you aware of any studies addressing this phenomenon with neural data?

References

Kensinger, E. A. (2008). Age differences in memory for arousing and
nonarousing emotional words. Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological
Sciences and Social Sciences, 63, P13–P18.

Ritchie, Timothy; Skowronski, John J.; Hartnett, Jessica; Wells, Brett; Walker, W. Richard (April 2009). "The fading affect bias in the context of emotion activation level, mood, and personal theories of emotion change" (PDF). Memory. 17 (4): 428–444. doi:10.1080/09658210902791665.

Taylor, S. E. (1991). Asymmetrical effects of positive and negative events: the mobilization-minimization hypothesis. Psychological bulletin, 110(1), 67.

Walker, W. R., Vogl, R. J., & Thompson, C. P. (1997). Autobiographical memory: Unpleasantness fades faster than pleasantness over time. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 11(5), 399-413.

**Tags:** neuroscience, cognitive-neuroscience, emotion, memory, neurophysiology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Hi username_0. why do you think bad memories decay faster than good memories? Do you have some scientific research that could back up that statement? Regarding question 2, there are some questions on this site about decay of memory. I will try to look them up for you.  
> **username_1**: The question http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/q/9595/11318 already explains a lot about memories and forgetting, but the answers is also interesting. Here is the maths behind forgetting: http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/q/5199/11318 . For other questions you can search for "memory decay" or "forgetting curve".  
> **username_2**: Yeah, I agree with Robin,  ever heard of posttraumatic stress disorder? PSD is accompanied by persistent,  explicitly bad memories. You should back this question up with research. -1, vote to close being unclear. Feel free to edit. Happy to remove vote after edits. PS,  due to multiple questions it's too broad too. Sorry for nagging.  
> **username_2**: Great edit, +1. Close vote retracted.  

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## 0 answers

