What makes something nostalgic

Always distorted, always yearned for, and always seen as better days. It keeps us from the truth of the present and the pain of reality. However, like the unforeseeable future, the past itself is an idealized version of something we want it to be, not what we know as reality.

The way we remember memories is constantly distorted. By recalling a memory of the past, you are remembering it as your brain has chosen to distort it, not by the actuality of its events.

Because of its distorted and pleasant qualities, people spend days wrapped up in the fantasy of it, longing for it the way some do lovers. This yearning, this distorted idea of better days and times we wish were again is known as the common infliction of nostalgia. According to Alan R. You remember fleeting feelings, emotions and moments of glee.

You do not remember the seconds of sadness and hurt before it. You only remember what your biased mind has chosen to recall. However, as it turns out, nostalgia isn't about remembering memories at all.

As Hirsh points out, nostalgia does not relate to a specific memory, but rather an emotional state. In two experiments , for example, they asked participants to describe situations that caused them to experience nostalgia and found that negative feelings, and specifically loneliness, were cited most often.

In another experiment , participants read one of three news stories that contained depressing, neutral, or positive content. A story about a tsunami disaster provoked more nostalgic thoughts than an article about space or a polar bear birth, the researchers found. So, do some people experience the emotion more than others?

Most of us probably wax nostalgic at least a few times a month—and often more than once a week—according to Routledge, although older adults might be more prone to bittersweet longing, he says. Noriuchi M, et al. Memory and reward systems coproduce 'nostalgic' experiences in the brain.

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. Barrett FS, et al. Neural responses to nostalgia-evoking music modeled by elements of dynamic musical structure and individual differences in affective traits. Video Series. The Brain and Nostalgia. A new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reported that spending a good portion of every day mired in the past is associated with negative feelings.

We found that people are most likely to think of the good old days when something goes wrong in the present. Negative nostalgic thoughts can run the gamut from convincing yourself life was better in the past to beating yourself up for things in the past that you might perceive as negatively affecting your life in the present. The study explained that when prompted to think about positive experiences from the past, people generally felt good. On the other hand, unprompted nostalgia during the course of everyday life was associated with negative emotions.

This makes a whole lot of sense.