Understanding Why Certain Memories Flood Back (And Others Don’t)

Researchers have recently discovered the benefit of forgotten memories, which can still be retrieved with the right cues.

By Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi
Dec 16, 2021 6:00 AMDec 16, 2021 4:14 PM
photos memory black and white
(Credit: Kittyfly/Shutterstock)

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As a child in the early 1980s, I was enamored with My Little Pony, the colorful plastic horse figurines with long manes. I also had the brand’s Show Stable, which was parked in our TV room and filled with my beloved ponies. But as I progressed through grade school, I eventually packed up my stable and forgot about the toys I once loved.  

By late 2003, I hadn’t thought about my ponies for over 15 years. Then, VH1 ran a 1980s nostalgia show in which celebrities reminisced about bygone pop culture. An actress held up a My Little Pony figurine (a Twinkle-Eyed variety) and made note: “This is enough to hypnotize any child. I mean, diamond sparkly eyes?”  

I had that mesmerizing toy, I suddenly realized. The memories flooded back, and I wondered where they had been all those years. 

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