It’s harder to forget than to remember

FORGETTING something might take more effort than trying to remember it, suggests a recent study from The University of Texas at Austin in the U.S.

Using neuroimaging to track patterns of brain activity, the team showed the participants a series of images of scenes and faces, instructing them either to remember or forget each one. The surprising results, which were published in the Journal of Neuroscience, showed more brain activity occurring in sensory and perceptual areas when participants were trying to forget than when trying to remember.

Future studies will look at precisely how we process different memories, say the researchers.