One way to think of emotions is that they help your brain timestamp an event into long-term memory.
When something significant happens in your life, there will be emotion connected to the event. The emotion creates a strong neurological connection so your brain can access the memory in the future.
It also stamps your feelings accompanying the event so that your mind can recall the associated emotion.
Your ability to associate memory with emotion is important from a survival standpoint.
Your brain wants you to remember big events as well as what the event means to you. The memory and related emotion will help you decide how to respond when similar situations come up in your life.
Emotions add weight to memories.
Of course, this process works for both good and bad events. We’ll discuss these implications in the last supplemental article.
