Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin have found that it takes more energy to forget something than to remember it, according to an article published in The Journal of Neuroscience and summarized in Neuroscience News.  They say that, contrary to conventional wisdom, in order to forget an unwanted memory, more rather than less attention should be focused upon it.

The researchers used neuroimaging to observe brain activity when instructing a group to remember or intentionally forget an image.  They found that there was a sweet spot:  too much attention on an image, and it was remembered better; too little, and it wasn’t enough effort to change the memory.

This study points toward future research avenues that may be particularly helpful for those who experience traumatic events. 

You may find the Neuroscience News article here and the original journal article from March 11, 2019 here.