Fear memories are formed through one-trial learning for survival.

“And unfortunately seems that our nervous system is skewed toward creating one-trial memories for negative events.”

“So part of those one-trial memories, I think, is often taking advantage of this evolutionarily developed system to tamp in things that could be potentially dangerous to you into your memory.”

“What is it about emotionally salient events that allow memories to get stamped in? There is this protective function um of our brains that has evolved over the last 2.5 million years that you need to pay attention and remember certain things for your survival. If something terrible happens, if something very scary happens, um you remember that and that that fear and that memory of all those things. I mean, I I have one uh when I lived in Washington DC, I went to work at NIH on a Sunday afternoon and I came back and when I rounded the corner to my door of my apartment, um it was crowbar barred in. Somebody had taken a crowbar, opened up my door and stole the nicest things in my apartment. Ever since then, whenever I rounded that corner, I still had that memory. It was terrible because, you know, it put me in a terrible state when I was just coming home. And that that's a survival mechanism. Do you want to uh be alert to possible danger? Absolutely. Yes. So part of those one trial memories I think is often taking advantage of this evolutionarily developed system to tamp in things that could be potentially dangerous to you into your memory. So you forever will remember this”