Good memories outlast bad - lifelines - Brief Article

During those moments of retrospection we all experience, we're more likely to remember the good times than the bad.

Several studies, which included lab research, found that people's perception of past events is mostly pleasant. However, depressed people don't share this bias. "Their negative emotions faded less and positive emotions faded more," says lead review author W. Richard Walker, an assistant professor of psychology at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina.

It was concluded that when people share their memories with friends and family, the social interaction seems to alter the emotional experience of those memories. "In many cases, talking helps," says Walker.

(Winston-Salem State University)

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