THE NEGATIVE and tragic incidents have greater impact on the mind and can be recalled easily for a long time as compared to positive or happy incidents.
A study by the psychologists of the Allahabad University (AU) has established that this was actually a natural process related to changes in the brain at the time of incident.
The recent observations by the AU psychologists differ from the long-time deductions of many a psychologist about brain. Earlier, the psychologists used to believe that the brain had the tendency to remember positive and pleasant incidents for a longer time as compared to the unpleasant incidents. The recent study was based on ‘attention’, which experts claim, plays an important role on the feelings developed in the brain towards the incidents or visuals.
Dr Narain Srinivasan of the Centre for Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (CBCS) of AU’s Department of Psychology came forward with new aspects of ‘attentional processes’ in the brain.
Explaining his observations, Dr Srinivasan said, “From our preliminary observations, we have found that attention and feelings were interactive and attention is an important cognitive process that plays a significant role in cognition.”
Dr Srinivasan said that the relation between perception and attention had been investigated using various behavioural, computational and neuro-scientific approaches.
{{/usCountry}}Dr Srinivasan said that the relation between perception and attention had been investigated using various behavioural, computational and neuro-scientific approaches.
{{/usCountry}}“Through the Electroencephalogram (EEG), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) experiments, we have observed that preliminary response by the brain to the people, objects or incidents around, plays an important role in remembering things or incidents,” he added.
Elucidating the process, Dr Srinivasan said, “For inhibition of return, we have used EEG in which electrodes are fixed on the skull of the person and the activities or the changes occurring in the brain are recorded in form of electrical waveforms.”
“We have focused our study on understanding the neural mechanisms involved in selective attention and the way attention processes interact with specific stimulus information. The preliminary results will prove helpful in understanding and treatment of the patients with Attention Deficiency Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and other psychological problems in future,” said Dr Srinivasan.