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Ersatz Experience

Very interesting reading on how nostalgia works. This explanation of how brain activity drives the positive feelings associated with nostalgia makes sense: 

 "..brain activity in regions associated with reward-seeking and motivation was higher during nostalgic recollection. Entertaining the kinds of mental simulations that elicit the bittersweet feeling of nostalgia generates a reward signal that seems to motivate individuals to turn their ersatz experience into a real one, in an attempt to replace the (actual) negative emotion felt when simulating with the (imagined) positive emotion of the simulated content."

This made me think about what I feel nostalgic about. Often it will be a vignette from childhood or youth - a very small one. In reality the event that is imbued with nostalgia could have occupied just a few minutes in a day or a few hours in a long period of time. Yet, when I think about it, the surrounding time blurs out of focus and this one scene stands out in sharp focus. It is a huge distortion from reality and that can trigger the bittersweet feeling of nostalgia. The parts that are blurred out and hazy were not always pleasant. Often, the event in question stood out because it was a such a contrast to the pervasive bleakness. If I had recalled the past with more fidelity, chances are I would feel no nostalgia at all.

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