Forgetting Is A Good Thing
By Louisa Hall
I get frustrated with my memory sometimes: Why could I not remember the answer to that certain question on that exam? What was the name of the person I met in class yesterday? Where did I put my keys? Sometimes I find myself wishing I was born with a better memory; maybe you do too.
Surprisingly though, neuroscientists have discovered that perhaps it is actually a positive thing that we cannot remember every detail from our day. Why is that? As described by one neuroscientist, Dr. Andre Fenton at New York University, it would be potentially very distracting to have a highly functioning brain. For example, if one experienced many intruding memories it could make it very difficult to focus during cognitive tasks such as solving mathematic problems or working on homework.
Interestingly, forgetting is also a key component of maintaining well-pruned neuronal connections in the brain. Having well-pruned neuronal connections are important because it aids in the health of efficient brain processes. These brain processes include the ability to store important memories that are needed for later recall and forgetting the irrelevant details that have no significance to an individual.
For example, let’s say Sara is meeting her boyfriend’s parents at a restaurant for the first time. Her brain would (hopefully) take all the information from that experience and filter through the information that appears important and maintain those neuronal connections such as remembering their names, interests, and where they work. Sara’s brain would then prune the neurons connected with the not-so-important-details such as the clothes her boyfriend’s parents were wearing, how many people were at the restaurant, and the name of the waitress. In short, as our neurons are being pruned in our brain, we are filtering out the information that we perceive we do not need and hence, we are forgetting information that is not important. You may be wondering though, what would happen if we could remember all of those details? It may be nice to remember the name of every person we met or every test question on an exam.
Maybe an article on BBC will help answer your question. This article (Robson, 2019) discusses the blessing and curse of people who never forget and drives home the point that highly functioning brains are not always to be desired. For example, one of the testimonies included in the article is an individual who has highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM) which is a condition when an individual remembers every specific detail about their life. This individual states that “Sometimes I don’t remember what happened five minutes ago, but can remember a detail from 22 January 2008.” I think that would be a very frustrating experience.
It has been seen that individuals with the condition HSAM may excel at certain tasks that require accuracy but overall, this condition has been seen to be linked with the display of overly obsessive behavior. This obsessive behavior occurs because of the difficulty to “zoom out” from situations and experiences. Because of this inability, the flow of information increases into the individual’s brain requiring them to be attentive to every detail and requiring the encoding and consolidating of information at excess . I think that would be worse than forgetting an exam answer.
After learning more about forgetting and the surprisingly positive aspects of this process, I think I am beginning to see my forgetfulness not as a sign of weakness but a sign of a healthy functioning brain. Perhaps the reality of remembering everything I heard, saw, and experienced would be distracting. So the next time you are struggling to find your phone or cannot remember your friend’s birthday, take it easy on yourself. These situations do not reflect that you have a dysfunctional brain but rather a functional one. Forgetting is a good thing.
References
Gravitz, Lauren. (2019). The importance of forgetting. Nature, 571, 12-14. https://braincouncil.be/en/burden-of-brain-diseases_evidence/the-brain/brain-s12-memory.pdf
Hertel, G., Meeßen, S., Riehle, D., Thielsch, M., Nohe, C., & Becker, J. (2019). Directed forgetting in organisations: the positive effects of decision support systems on mental resources and well-being. Ergonomics, 62(5), 597–611. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2019.1574361
Robson, David. (2019, January 26). The blessing and curse of the people who never forget. BBC Future. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160125-the-blessing-and-curse-of-the-people-who-never-forget