One of the most fascinating things about nostalgia is that, in some cases, it doesn’t just focus on your personal recollections. You can actually yearn for a time period in history that you haven’t personally experienced.
In other words, you might have a deep desire to live in a period of time before you were even born.
This phenomenon is known as anemoia.
Based on the findings of philosopher Professor Felipe De Brigard, from Duke University, nostalgia can include your yearnings, not just your recollections. According to him, memory is a creative process, BBC Science Focus reports.
“When you recollect memories, it’s not like you’re looking up a recording of what happened, it’s more like your brain creates a simulation of those past events.”
“In this way, De Brigard argues that nostalgia can be based on memories – simulations of pleasant past experiences – but doesn’t have to be. Given the role of imagination in memory, he says it’s not a huge leap to propose that nostalgia can also be based on imagined positive past experiences,” BBC Science Focus explains.
As per BBC Science Focus, this type of imagination-based nostalgia is likely to be influenced by a variety of sources, such as stories and propaganda about the past.
“So it’s quite likely that you’ve read or heard rose-tinted accounts of historical periods or places. Based on those accounts, your mind creates a simulation of what those places or times would have been like and you then feel a yearning to experience them for yourself.”
You are more likely to yearn for a past that you see through rose-colored glasses if you’re feeling dissatisfied with your present.
The reason why anemoia can, at times, be problematic is that some populist movements might use it to promote their political agendas. In short, they might promise returning to the ‘good old days,’ even if they are merely a figment of their imagination.
“Older populist voters might be inspired by conventional nostalgia, for times they really did experience (that’s not to say their memories are necessarily accurate). But many young voters also seem to be susceptible to nostalgia-based propaganda and anemoia helps to make sense of this,” BBC Science Focus stresses.
