A new study has shown that we tend to remember the bad times better than the good.

The study, from Boston College psychologist, Elizabeth Kensinger and colleagues, has suggested that we retain and bear in mind events that carry negative emotional burden.

Her research shows that whether an event is pleasing or aversive seems to be a critical determinant of the accuracy with which the event is remembered, with negative events being remembered in greater detail than positive ones.

To substantiate her theory, Kensinger gives the example of a sight of a man on a street holding a gun. After seeing the man, people remember the gun clearly, but they forget the details of the street.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies have shown increased cellular activity in emotion-processing regions at the time that a negative event is experienced.

The more activity in the orbitofrontal cortex and the amygdala, two emotion-processing regions of the brain, the more likely an individual is to remember detailsintrinsically linked to the emotional aspect of the event, such as the exact appearance of the gun.

Kensinger argues that recognizing the effects of negative emotion on memory for detail may, at some point, save our lives by guiding our actions and allowing us to plan for similar future occurrences.

“These benefits make sense within an evolutionary framework. It is logical that attention would be focused on potentially threatening information,” says Kensinger.

一項最新研究顯示，不愉快的時光往往比美好的時光令人難以忘懷。

波士頓大學心理學者伊麗莎白•基辛格及其同事們進行的這項研究表明，人們把那些令自己情緒消極的事情牢記在心。

她的研究顯示，一件事能否被人準確地記住關鍵取決于這件事是令人愉快還是令人厭惡。消極事件比積極事件讓人記得更清楚。

為了證實她的理論，基辛格舉了一個看見大街上有個男人持槍的例子。人們看見這個男人后，能清楚地記得這把槍，但卻不記得這條街的具體細節。

功能性磁共振造影研究顯示，一個人在經歷消極事件時，其腦部情緒處理區域的細胞活動會增強。

人的前額腦區底部和扁桃體兩處腦部情緒處理區域的活動越強，越能記住與此事件情緒方面具有本質聯系的細節，比如槍的具體外觀。

基辛格認為，清楚地識別記憶中消極情緒的影響在某些時刻能夠指導我們的行動、可以讓我們為將來發生類似事件做好準備，從而挽救我們的生命。

她說：“這些好處從進化的角度來講也是行得通的。人們容易把注意力集中在具有潛在威脅的信息上，這是合乎邏輯的。”