Researchers Discover Possible Secret to Better Memory

The secret to a better memory might be tied to your emotions.

This is according to a study done by the Hangzhou Normal University in China that was published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

The study included 44 university students who were shown 144 squiggly shapes, each of which were followed by a positive, neutral or negative image. Then, the process was repeated two more times for each student.

After a 24-hour break, students were given a recognition memory test and the results revealed that students had better recall of the squiggly shapes that were followed by positive images.

“Our findings revealed that positive emotions enhanced the retrieval of meaningless squiggles compared to negative emotions,” the study said.

“These results provide neural evidence for the enhanced memory performance of items associated with positive emotions and shed light on the mechanisms underlying memory formation in emotional contexts,” researchers concluded.

Researchers did see a similar level of increased brain activity for negative emotions as compared to positive ones, but that did not lead to better recall.

The belief is that could be a result of heightened alertness for potential threats due to negative emotions.

While a small study, this does lend to the idea that being positive helps in retaining information. Just something to keep in mind if you want to improve your memory.

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Researchers Discover Possible Secret to Better Memory first appeared on Men’s Journal on Jul 12, 2025