The Brain Mechanism of Negative Emotional Memory Intentional Forgetting

Negative emotional memory was mostly painful memory, so whether or not a person can rid himself of such memory intentionally will directly affect his living. The essence of negative emotional memory intentional forgetting was an active suppression of the negative emotional memory. Both researches in directed forgetting and suppressed forgetting have found that negative emotion affects memory inhibiting, yet we couldn't say for sure whether this kind of inhibition is conducive or harmful, for the two conclusions can find support from brain mechanism study. Future research remains to be done in comparative studies of intentional forgetting in negative emotional pictures and negative emotional words, and retrieval stage ERP study of negative emotional memory intentional forgetting and comparative study of directed forgetting and suppressed forgetting.