They remember the moment as if it just happened because a national tragedy arouses emotion and emotion somehow makes memories last for a long time, Hegde explained.

Now scientists are planning to use norepinephrine to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, which is memory loss after an accident.

These results are available online and scheduled to appear in Neuroscience.

Ashok Hegde is an associate professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy at WFUSM. He did his graduate work at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad.