Some forgotten memories may be less like a deleted computer file and more like a dusty book buried deep in the stacks of an ancient library. "We find in Drosophila that forgotten memories can persist as silent memory traces in circuits that lack the capacity to guide behavior," they write in a paper published in Nature Neuroscience. And very little is known about the brain processes underlying the reconstruction of forgotten memories, whether the outcome is real or false. The reminder had to recreate key parts of the original experience – including the chamber's texture and lighting – before the forgotten memory resurfaced. However, given that false memories are a known phenomenon, the research could give us some insight into how our own brains hide the ghosts of memories.