Researchers have discovered that the brain processes memories differently when we experience strong negative emotions, focusing on storing essential and important details, but ignoring peripheral information and the surrounding environment.
The brain is the machine that perceives, analyzes, classifies, and stores our memories, but it does not store all experiences in the same way, especially when we are under stress or emotional tension.
In a new study, researchers from the Open University of Catalonia found that negative emotions help to consolidate central information and key aspects of experiences, but reduce the recall of context and surrounding environment.
To test this, the team created a simulation of a virtual airport, where participants took on the roles of employees at two boarding gates, and their task was to find specific passengers in the crowd by checking their names and faces. Some participants performed the task under high pressure for an extended period, while others performed it in a neutral emotional state.
The researchers found that participants who experienced intense negative emotions remembered the names and faces of passengers more accurately and for longer periods compared to the other group. However, they did not remember the precise location of each passenger, as this information was not necessary to complete the task.
“When exposed to intense negative emotions, the brain does not blindly focus on what triggers the strongest emotions, but rather strategically prioritizes the aspect most relevant to the person’s immediate goal,” explains Alvaro Pastor, one of the study’s authors.
The researchers explain that brain activity consumes a lot of energy, and when exposed to a strong emotion, it cannot remember everything equally, so it resorts to "dynamic prioritization" of memory, directing its resources towards forming a specific memory.
The brain neither enhances nor inhibits memory as a whole, but rather regulates the processes of connecting elements. Some processes connect separate elements such as face and place, while others integrate different elements such as face and name. When stressed, the brain tends to favor the second type, which integrates information.
Pierre Borodin-Kretz, a researcher involved in the study, confirms that this preference for certain memories in negative situations is not a flaw, but a useful adaptation. He says: "When faced with a highly stressful situation, it is normal not to remember certain details of the context. This does not mean that the memory is false or unreliable, but rather reflects how the brain works under pressure."
These results carry a reassuring message: forgetting certain details after a traumatic or stressful experience does not mean that the memories are flawed or fabricated.
This understanding opens up broad horizons for practical applications in multiple fields. In education, learning environments can be designed to encourage positive interaction rather than anxiety. In the justice system, it's possible to avoid questioning victims who don't recall specific events. In healthcare, phobia-inducing events or situations can be recreated under controlled conditions. It can also be used in aviation, emergency services, and critical infrastructure, where errors under pressure can have disastrous consequences.
The researchers point out that the use of virtual reality was key to these results, as it allows for the stimulation of emotions in a sustainable way and the study of the interaction between emotions and memory in realistic conditions, which helps in applying the results to real-life needs in a way that was not possible with traditional methods.
