Early experiences affect us more than recent ones

Have you ever gone somewhere where you had a good time a few years back? Or revisited a place which was associated with a bad memory?

It turns out that those early memories really affect our mood when we revisit the same place or event.

Consider this:

A team lead by Keren determined that “early experiences may have a larger effect on our mood than more recent events. . . .

It is commonly believed that the most recent experiences during a task or interaction with someone else may have the strongest effect on how an individual feels at a given time. But in a series of experiments, researchers show that early experiences can have a more significant impact on someone’s mood. . . .  imaging data also suggested that earlier experiences . . . ‘switched on’ parts of the frontal brain associated with moods, rather than later events.”

The same experience-based outcomes were found in adolescents and adults.

So if you are having trouble deciding whether to improve an earlier or later experience, maybe don’t give yourself such a hard time if you’re finding it hard to shake off an old memory, it’s not your fault! But understanding that the earlier memory will impact how you feel when you revisit might help you adjust or try and switch up your mindset so you have a better experience next time you visit it!

“Early Experiences Have Larger Effect in Mood Than More Recent Ones, Study Suggests.”  2021.  Press release, eLife, https://elifesciences.org/for-the-press/c22136b3/early-experiences-have-…