Question

Can people train their brains to only remember positive memories? If so, would this be beneficial or something that could cause problems? Identify research to support your positions. Do you think IQ tests and other standardized tests have a place in modern academia?

Answer 1

Answer.

Research in the area of memory and other cognitions has found evidence for a strong relationship between emotional state and cognitive processes such that forgetting and remembering may be influenced by the emotional context of the information that is stored in memory.

For instance, In a study on the clinical training of patients with serious depression ( Schweizer, et al, 2013 ), it was found that they can be gradually led to access positive memories by the use of the method of loci that uses visual imagery which the patients imagined along a route or in a location such as their home. Participants in the study who otherwise found it so difficult to retrieve their memories, were trained by a researcher to flesh them out - with details like sensory information such as any smells, colours or sounds. The researchers found that creating this mental map or memory loci enhanced the recall of the participants it was found to have lasting advantages on their capacity to remember and recall positive events in their lives and thus alter their viewpoints and attitudes about themselves and their life in general, even when people were re-tested a week later.

References:

Schweizer, S.; Grahn, J; Hampshire, A; Mobbs, D and Dalgleish, D ( 2013). Training the Emotional Brain: Improving Affective Control through Emotional Working Memory Training. Journal of Neuroscience . 20 March 2013,  33 (12) 5301-5311;

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2593-12.2013