Payne and Corrigan suggested that events, either happy or sad ones that trigger
emotional responses are difficult to forget,
even when we intentionally try to do so. They studied the
emotional effects on our memory using 218 college students who were told to study some pictures: half of them are emotionally stirring and half are neutral. Half of the students were asked to remember one set of the pictures and forget the other, whereas the other half were asked to remember both sets. Payne and Corrigan found that the students forget neutral pictures more readily but did not succeed in
forgetting the emotional stirring ones, either happy or sad. They concluded that painful memories that people want to get rid of most would remain remembered most likely because of emotion.