A groundbreaking study funded by a £1.2 million UKRI grant is applying quantum physics equations to decode how intense emotions distort human memory. Researchers at Newcastle University, led by Dr. Barbara-Anne Robertson, will use quantum formalism—a mathematical framework normally reserved for subatomic particles—to model why some emotional moments stay hyper-accurate while others lose their temporal order.
How emotions scramble memory’s timeline
Our memories rely on temporal order to create a coherent life narrative. But strong emotions can disrupt this ordering, causing events to feel out of sequence or to vanish from our mental timeline. Traditional psychology has struggled to predict these distortions. Quantum mechanics, however, is built on non-commutative principles where the sequence of operations changes the outcome—a property that mirrors how emotional context can rearrange memories.
The Quantum Emotions project
The project, named Quantum Emotions, brings together experts in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, quantum theory, and memory science. Dr. Jonte Hance, Head of the Quantum Group at Newcastle, explains: “This is an exciting opportunity to use ideas from quantum theory to model systems outside of physics, like emotional memory, where the order of events really matters.” The team will collaborate with world-leading quantum cognition researchers in Japan and Sweden to develop real-world cognitive models.
What the research found
While still in its early stages, the study has already identified key behavioral patterns: emotional distress or euphoria can cause memories to misalign, losing their chronological precision. The researchers aim to map the neural systems that fire during these distortions. This work could lead to practical tools for diagnosing psychiatric conditions, improving eyewitness testimony, and understanding cognitive aging.
Why it matters for your brain
Your memory isn’t a perfect recording—it’s reconstructed each time you recall an event, and emotions heavily influence that reconstruction. Understanding the math behind these distortions can help you recognize why certain memories feel vivid while others fade. It also opens doors for targeted brain training exercises that may improve memory accuracy.
What you can do
To sharpen your memory, practice mindfulness and emotional regulation—calm states tend to preserve temporal order better than extreme highs or lows. Keeping a journal can also help you cross-check your emotional recollections against written facts, training your brain to maintain accurate timelines.
Source: Neuroscience News
Curious about your own brain? Take our free adaptive IQ test or try 306 brain training levels.
