How the Brain Remembers an Affair

Where are the car keys? Who knows. Where did I leave my wallet? No idea. Where's that hot steamy memory of that one-night stand I had with the double-jointed Brazilian I had five years ago. Oh  yeah, right here! Isn't the brain fun?

According to science, the brain stores information based on association. There are two types of memory banks we access; short term and long term. They both involve three major processes: encoding, storage and retrieval and with the help of neurons, it all just happens magically--like the new skin that forms on Joan River's forehead.

A short term memory is when a friend yells out their cell number and you quickly pull your phone to store it. Wait, was that a 3 or a 6? Since you instantly have their voice in your head, you tap into your short memory bank and recall the numbers but after it's stored, you have no use for the digits, so your brain automatically empties out  that compartment in your brain--where it was briefly kept--and allows you to make room for something else; like remembering why people like Miley Cyrus. But long term memory is a memory that's stored for the long haul and you can recall at command; like remembering the prayer for the Our Father or singing a Ke$ha song--which I've been told they both can create a spiritual experience.

But how does the brain remember an affair? What happens when you catch your significant other cheating? (Click here to find out why people cheat) We know the dirty routine: they cry, they promise never to do it again, and then they take you out to Red Lobster for some cheese biscuits; romance, ain't love grand? But all those nights of sneaking out and meeting up with the other person, do those memories just fade into the night--like Nick Cannon's career? There was risk in the the affair, there was a sense of the forbidden, there were edible panties involved. When the anger towards your partner finally subsides and you allow yourself to experience their sexual touch again--are they really thinking of you? Just because society tells us that having affairs are wrong, in our head, we get to do and think whatever we want, just as Perez Hilton!

So if you forgive a cheater, by the way--should you?, (Listen to what they had to say about forgiving a cheater) do their cheating thoughts ever get wiped away? Can you ever really be sure they aren't sneaking off into the bathroom to masterbate to a memory? What if they've trained their heads to say your name but picture their face instead? We can defragment a computer and we can erase a white board, but when it comes to infidelity, I can't help but wonder, "Is it an affair to remember?"What do you think? Does a cheater forget? Leave a comment.