According to a new study, if you want to forget bad memories, I could be as simple as playing sounds while you sleep!
For the study, Researchers from the University of York asked participants to learn two overlapping pairs of words. The word pairs they used were David Beckham/bicycle and bicycle/castle. When participants were learning both pairs they were also played the word "bicycle" being played aloud. When participants went to sleep, the work "bicycle" was played again.
In the morning their memory was tested and the study found that memory for one pair of words was increased, but they seemed to forget the association for the other pair.
Dr. Bardur Joensen, lead author of the study, said:
“While still highly experimental at this stage, the results of our study raise the possibility that we can both increase and decrease the ability to recall specific memories by decreasing sound signals to play when a person is asleep.
Source: Daily Mail UK