Forgetting may provide a surprising evolutionary benefit, experts say

[Judi Lynn]

By Sven Vanneste, Elva Arulchelvan
published 2 days ago

If you didn't forget things, you'd be in for a world of trouble.


Forgetting is part of our daily lives. You may walk into a room only to forget why you went in there — or perhaps someone says hi on the street and you can't remember their name.

But why do we forget things? Is it simply a sign of memory impairment, or are there benefits?

One of the earliest findings in this area highlighted that forgetting can occur simply because the average person's memories fade away. This comes from 19th century German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, whose "forgetting curve" showed how most people forget the details of new information quite rapidly, but this tapers off over time. More recently, this has been replicated by neuroscientists.

Forgetting can also serve functional purposes, however. Our brains are bombarded with information constantly. If we were to remember every detail, it would become increasingly difficult to retain the important information.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/health/memory/forgetting-may-provide-a-surprising-evolutionary-benefit-experts-say

[multigraincracker]

1. Just woke up from a dream about a kid I use to know 60 years ago.

I was just thinking, why in the world did remember him.

[NJCher]

2. What does the kid

Symbolize to you? What is the one thing about him that if you took everything else away, remains?

[multigraincracker]

3. I had a shrink years ago that would interpret my dreams.

Bring up symbolism of different aspects of my dream. Then he would always say “but it’s just a dream”.

[nuxvomica]

4. Interesting article

I am reminded of the great Jorge Luis Borges story, "Funes the Memorious", about a man who remembered everything, even the contour of the ocean waves on a specific evening years before. For him, it was a form of suffering, which memory can be, which is why I think history had to be invented so that we could learn the lessons of the past, including the ones we'd rather forget.

[3Hotdogs]

5. I guess Im gonna live a long time.

[dickthegrouch]

7. I have long told people that I don't store irrelevant information

I exhibit a kind of incredulity that some people around me remember things I consider worse than useless. And I have an apparently unusual ability to remember vast amounts of technical data and languages. Maybe because my mental memory flushing is so efficient at clearing out the useless information.
I also experience being able to access information I haven’t otherwise thought of in decades especially around languages. For instance, while speaking French with someone recently I came up with several words I have had no reason to use since high school (50+ years ago).
Muscle memory is another method for learning and enables musicians and others to remember astonishing amounts of information to be able to perform without music.

[summer_in_TX]

8. I find a bad memory helps me in my relationships with others.

I don't remember why I'm angry at someone so I don't carry grudges as a rule. My sister with the good memory does carry grudges.