LONDON, England (Reuters):

Weddings and other big events are the stuff of memories. Now researchers have found a genetic change that makes some people remember them better than others.

The findings, published yesterday in the journal Nature Neuroscience, could help in the treatment of a number of psychiatric conditions, including post-trauma disorders, the researchers said.

Scientists have long recognised a link between memory and strong emotional events and the important evolutionary role it plays in remembering dangerous or favourable situations, said Andreas Papassotiropoulos, a researcher who worked on the study.

But the mechanism that triggers or regulates these responses was unclear, Papassotiropoulos, a psychiatrist at the University of Basel, said.

"This is the first proof of principle that we are able to identify genes and variants for emotional memory in humans," he said in a telephone interview.

Researchers around the world have been scouring the human genome to find genetic links to various diseases and conditions in the hope of developing new ways to prevent or treat them.

Papassotiropoulos, along with his colleague Dominique de Quervain at the University of Zurich, said a readily available database of human genes allowed them to zero in on a gene they believed was related to emotional memories.

In their study, the researchers collected DNA from 435 Swiss students and showed them a series of pictures such as a baby laughing, a car accident or a table. Then they asked them to remember what they had seen.