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Current level of happiness could cloud your memory, researchers say

By Mallika Marshall, MD

November 10, 2022 / 5:40 PM EST / CBS Boston

BOSTON – A new study says your current level of happiness may cloud your memory of how happy you were in the past.

A study recently published in the journal psychological science examined data from more than 11,000 participants and found that people who reported higher current life satisfaction were more likely to report having an upward climb in their happiness over the past 10 years.

But those who reported lower current life satisfaction were more likely to report dips in their well-being over the past decade.

That is, happy people may tend to overstate the improvement in their level of satisfaction over time whereas unhappy people tend to overstate declines in their level of happiness.

The researchers say that our current feelings of contentment can interfere with memories of our past well-being.

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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