Happy Learning: How positive emotions enhance memory

A new study found that positive emotions help students remember information more effectively.

Scientists have discovered that a good mood isn’t just good for you, it’s good for your memory, too. According to a new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, people remember things better when they’re feeling positive. Even meaningless images became more memorable if they were shown in the context of a happy emotional state.

Researchers from Chinese universities found that positive emotions boosted memory by triggering stronger activity patterns in the brain’s memory hub, the hippocampus. This reactivation — known as “reinstatement” — is what helps memories take root and stay with us.

The experiment involved 44 students who had to learn and remember meaningless shapes that were paired with emotional images. All students had to look at 144 shapes that were followed by either a happy scene, a neutral image or a negative picture. Each image pair was shown three times. 24 hours later, the students had to take a memory test. During the learning and the testing phases, their brain activity was monitored.

Shapes with positive images were remembered better and showed activity in the right frontal region of the brain. “These findings suggest that positive emotion enhances memory of neutral items across repeated learning”, the study states. The study also found that negative emotions had a completely different effect. The brain was then alert to potential threats and not ready to effectively learn.

So when you are learning something, you should make your environment a happy place. Let the sunshine in, place plants on your desk, look at photos of your loved ones. Make a break now and then and listen to a happy song or treat yourself to your favorite drink. Or learn with a friend, under a tree or on a bench.

What we can also learn from these findings: if you are searching for your keys or other misplaced belongings, negative emotions hinder your brain’s ability to recall its location. A pause could help. Stop the spiral and think about something that makes you happy, as feeling good is good for your memory. Science confirms this.