Scientists discover a way to weaken 'negative memories'
Erasing negative memories and traumatic flashbacks may lead to improved mental health. A study by Tao Xia and colleagues from the University of Hong Kong has found that activating and overwriting positive memories can weaken negative memories.
Aversive memories can be weakened during human sleep via the reactivation of positive interfering memories | PNAS
Researchers Have Found a Way to Help Erase Bad Memories : ScienceAlert
Xia and his colleagues recruited 37 participants to associate randomly generated words with negative images, then allowed the words to solidify in their memories overnight.
The next day, half of the random words were reassociated with positive images, and the participants were allowed to consolidate the memories overnight. During this time, the random words were played during non-REM sleep, which is thought to be important for memory formation, and brain waves were measured. It was confirmed that theta band activity, which is associated with emotional memory processing in the brain, rose sharply in response to the audio.
Subsequent surveys on the third and fifth days of the experiment showed that participants had a harder time recalling the negative images, but more easily recalled the positive ones.
It should be noted that the experiment was conducted in a controlled environment. For example, the database used in the experiment included 'calm landscapes and smiling children' as positive images and 'injured people and dangerous animals' as negative images. However, seeing such images is not the same as actually experiencing a traumatic event, so it is not necessarily possible to overwrite and erase 'real trauma.'
However, because the results showed that 'positive images could overwrite negative images,' Xia and his colleagues said, 'non-invasive sleep intervention may be able to improve unpleasant memories and emotional responses,' and they expressed the view that this could be a broad approach to improving traumatic memories.
By the way, there is a method called 'image rehearsal therapy' that replaces nightmares with positive content, and it has been proven that using sounds associated with positive images can further reduce the frequency of nightmares.
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