Forget Me

Erasing bad memories has long been a fantasy inspired by films such as “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”

But now, fiction may become reality after scientists found a promising new approach to wiping such memories and replacing them with positive ones during sleep, according to a new study.

The international team of researchers asked 37 participants to associate random words with negative images, such as injuries or dangerous animals, before attempting to reprogram those associations and replace bad memories.

According to the study, participants viewed 48 nonsense words paired with a unique aversive image, followed by a night of sleep to consolidate those memories. The next evening, participants learned associations between half of the words and positive images.

During a second night of sleep, the recordings of the nonsense words were played during the participant’s non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep phase, which is known to be important for memory storage.

The researchers then monitored the participants the next day and for several days after with questionnaires, finding that the volunteers were less able to recall the negative memories that had been interfered with than those with the positive associations. The answers also suggested that positive memories were more likely to pop into the participants’ heads than negative ones for the words.

“Our findings open broad avenues for seeking to weaken aversive or traumatic memories,” wrote the researchers in their study.

Despite the promising results of this study, further research is still needed.

The team discussed some limitations in their study, writing that the tightly controlled lab-induced emotional experiences of viewing aversive and positive images may not mimic typical traumatic experiences. Finding positive associations within highly traumatic experiences could also be challenging for many people.

Nevertheless, previous studies have also shown the importance of the link between sleep and memory, as the brain saves memories by briefly replaying them during sleep. As a result, the researchers said the study is a starting point for learning how to dampen negative memories and could help those in therapy in the future.