Researchers believed that a person could only preserve a memory in his brain if the relevant neurons were active but now they discovered that mind can slow near-term memories down to a dormant state where they're in the background, but remain ready to come back when necessary.
This method cannot be applied to long-term memories, however, the findings should improve the understanding of how the brain works. It is already clear that memory is more complex and in the long run, there's a chance this could lead to treatments for Alzheimer's and other conditions where regaining short-term memories could greatly improve a patient's quality of life.
