https://www.bu.edu/articles/2025/why-do-we-remember-some-moments-but-not-others/ Skip to Main Content Boston University * * * More Publications * University Publications + + + * School & College Publications + + + + + + Other Publications * Sections * Search Pioneering Research from Boston University Why Do We Remember Some Life Moments--but Not Others? [crop-25-1525-REIN-098] Boston University neuroscientist Robert Reinhart (center) studied memory mechanisms with Wen Wen (left), a postdoctoral research associate, and Chenyang (Leo) Lin (GRS'30). Memory Why Do We Remember Some Life Moments--but Not Others? BU study finds memories of mundane incidents can be strengthened when they get attached to a memory of an emotionally charged event September 24, 2025 0 * Andrew Thurston * Cydney Scott Twitter Facebook Some memories are easy to recall--lush with detail, fresh as the moment itself. Others are more tenuous, like faded sketches. And the most stubborn ones can refuse to resurface at all. Why do our brains enshrine some memories so indelibly, and let others slip away? A new Boston University study has a potential answer, suggesting that memories of mundane moments are given extra sticking power if they become connected to a significant event--something surprising, rewarding, or carrying an emotional punch. Watch your Powerball numbers cash in, for example, and you're likely to remember what you were doing in the moments before, however unremarkable and unmemorable those incidents might have been otherwise. The findings, published in Science Advances, could potentially lead to improved treatments for people with memory problems or even help students retain tricky concepts. "Memory isn't just a passive recording device: our brains decide what matters, and emotional events can reach back in time to stabilize fragile memories," says Robert M.G. Reinhart, a BU College of Arts & Sciences associate professor of psychological and brain sciences. "Developing strategies to strengthen useful memories, or weaken harmful ones, is a long-standing goal in cognitive neuroscience. Our study suggests that emotional salience could be harnessed in precise ways to achieve those goals." In their paper, he and his colleagues give the example of someone hiking through Yellowstone National Park and stumbling across a herd of majestic bison. The wow of that moment, they discovered, would not just cement the one magical experience in the mind, but lots of little, more run-of-the-mill events leading up to and away from it: a rock spotted on the path, a small animal darting into the undergrowth. "The question is: What are the mechanisms for that?" says Reinhart, who's also a College of Engineering associate professor of biomedical engineering and a faculty member at the BU Center for Systems Neuroscience. "That's what we tried to uncover, how the brain selectively strengthens those fragile memories." How the Brain Selects Which Memories to Preserve While most of us know that special moments get a revered spot in our memory banks, researchers have been divided on concepts known as retroactive and proactive memory enhancement--the prioritization of memories immediately before or after a big, or salient, event. Previous studies have disagreed on whether or not weaker memories are stabilized, or made easier to recall, by attachment to a more prominent one. Reinhart says the latest project--which included close to 650 participants, 10 individual studies, and the use of artificial intelligence to analyze a broader set of data--is the first to definitively show that memory enhancement does happen. One major difference with past studies: they found the brain uses a sliding scale to decide which memories to preserve. Many of the team's experiments involved showing participants dozens of images--connected to different levels of rewards--then giving them a surprise memory test the next day. With things that occurred after an event (proactive memories), the strength of recall seemed to depend on the emotional impact of the big moment itself--the more enduring the salient event, the more likely everything after it was to be remembered. That didn't apply when reaching back to the things that happened in the run-up to the event (retroactive memories). Those memories were more likely to be cemented if they had similarities--perhaps a visual cue, like a matching color--that connected them to the pivotal moment. According to Reinhart, it's the first validation in humans of "graded prioritization, a new principle of how the brain consolidates everyday experiences." [crop-25-15]Reinhart says the team's findings could have clinical and other real-world applications, including helping people recover fragile memories or retain important educational concepts. "For the first time, we show clear evidence that the brain rescues weak memories in a graded fashion, guided by their high-level similarity to emotional events," says Chenyang (Leo) Lin (GRS'30), the paper's first author and a doctoral student in the Reinhart Lab. "It's not just timing that matters, but also conceptual overlap." The researchers also found that if any secondary memories carried emotional weight themselves, the memory enhancement effect was diminished. "The brain seems to prioritize fragile memories that would otherwise slip away," says Reinhart, who has published a series of highly cited papers on how memory functions. Much of his research has also included brain stimulation--using noninvasive techniques to improve working and long-term memory in older adults or to curb obsessive-compulsive behavior. Rescuing Memories; Improving Test Scores Although the latest study was focused on uncovering a basic mechanism guiding how memories are encoded, Reinhart says the work could lay the foundation for future clinical and other real-world studies and interventions. "The discovery has broad implications for both theory and practice," says Reinhart. "In education, pairing emotionally engaging material with fragile concepts could improve retention. In a clinical setting, we could potentially rescue memories that are weak, way back in the recesses of our mind because of normal aging, for example. You can flip it, too, for people with trauma-related disorders--maybe you don't want to rescue a distressing memory." Reinhart's research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the International OCD Foundation, the AE Research Foundation, and philanthropy. Explore Related Topics: * College of Arts & Sciences * National Institutes of Health * Neuroscience * Research * Students * Share this story * 0 Comments Add Share Why Do We Remember Some Life Moments--but Not Others? Share * Twitter * Facebook * Reddit * LinkedIn * Email * [https://www.bu.edu/a] Copy URL: Copy * Andrew Thurston Editor, The Brink Twitter Profile Photo of Andrew Thurston, a white man with black glasses. He smiles and wears a maroon polo shirt. Andrew Thurston is originally from England, but has grown to appreciate the serial comma and the Red Sox, while keeping his accent (mostly) and love of West Ham United. He joined BU in 2007, and is the editor of the University's research news site, The Brink; he was formerly director of alumni publications. Before joining BU, he edited consumer and business magazines, including for corporations, nonprofits, and the UK government. His work has won awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, the In-House Agency Forum, Folio:, and the British Association of Communicators in Business. Andrew has a bachelor's degree in English and related literature from the University of York. Profile * Cydney Scott Photojournalist cydney scott Cydney Scott has been a professional photographer since graduating from the Ohio University VisCom program in 1998. She spent 10 years shooting for newspapers, first in upstate New York, then Palm Beach County, Fla., before moving back to her home city of Boston and joining BU Photography. Profile Comments & Discussion Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. 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