Want To Get Rid of Memories Of Your Embarrassing Moments??

E arsing Memories

If you want to forget or wants to get rid of  any embarrassing actions which you may have done, than you're in luck: a new discovery reveals two ways that our minds can erase memories.

According to the study, conducted by researchers at the University of Cambridge, the brain erases traumatic and otherwise undesirable memories via two opposite mechanisms. The findings are published in the October 17 copy of Neuron.

In one method researchers have termed "direct suppression," the brain inhibits the processing of the hippocampus, a region of the brain critical for the formation of conscious memories. This interference prevents the memory from ever being recorded in the first place.

The other method, called "thought substitution," doesn't halt the memory from being recorded; instead, the brain alters its own wiring to replace the memory with something else.

"This study is the first demonstration of two distinct mechanisms that cause such forgetting: one by shutting down the remembering system, and the other by facilitating the remembering system to occupy awareness with a substitute memory," said Roland Benoit, the study's lead author, in a press release.

Researchers conducted the study with 36 volunteers instructed to remember and forget specific pairings of words. According to Business Insider, half the individuals were instructed to replace one word with a different word, while the other half were instructed to forget the word entirely. Researchers watched participants' brain activity while they repeatedly committed words to memory, then attempted to forget them.

The findings could have implications for a whole host of populations including veterans suffering from PTSD, or victims of traumatic crime.

- Team Shirsa

Do you hate it when people complain?

Listening to too much complaining is bad for your brain in multiple ways. The brain works more like a muscle than we thought, So if you're pinned in a corner for too long listening to someone being negative, you're more likely to behave that way as well.

Even worse, being exposed to too much complaining can actually make you dumb. Research shows that exposure to 30 minutes or more of negativity, including viewing such material on TV actually peels away neurons in the brain's hippocampus. "That's the part of your brain you need for problem solving," he says. "Basically, it turns your brain to mush."

But if you're running a company, don't you need to hear about anything that may have gone wrong? "There's a big difference between bringing your attention to something that's awry and a complaint.
Typically, people who are complaining don't want a solution; they just want you to join in the indignity of the whole thing. You can almost hear brains clink when six people get together and start saying, 'Isn't it terrible?' This will damage your brain even if you're just passively listening. And if you try to change their behavior, you'll become the target of the complaint."

So, how do you defend yourself and your brain from negativity? 

Get some distance

You should look at complaining the same way, he says. "The approach I've always taken with complaining is to think of it as the same as passive smoking." Your brain will thank you if you get yourself away from the complainer, if you can.

Ask the complainer to fix the problem

Try to get the person who's complaining to take responsibility for a solution.  Respond to a complaint with, 'What are you going to do about it?'" Many complainers walk away huffily at that point.


Imagine Your Favorite Spot!

A strategy is to mentally retreat to your favorite holiday spot, someplace you'd go if you could wave a magic wand. take yourself to your private retreat while people were ranting and raving and keep smiling at them and nod in all the right places and meanwhile take a peaceful walk on your "private beach."

- Team Shirsa