Remember how you felt in the not-so-good times? While we certainly remember what happened, our emotional recall dims with time. Researchers have found that the mind is biased toward positive emotional memories—as negative emotions fade faster. This isn't universal, however, as mild depression can skew emotional memory toward the negative.
"People have an inherent bias to view their experiences in a positive light," says study author Richard Walker, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. For one, the positive bias can be explained simply because there are more positive events than negative ones, explains Walker.
In his research, he found that happier emotions have a longer shelf life in our memories. In a review of 12 studies, he found that people consistently report experiencing more positive events. Negative emotions tended to fade faster than positive ones.
