Try answering these questions as precisely as possible. What did you eat for breakfast today? What did you discuss with your friends yesterday? When did you last visit a restaurant and what did you eat? How did you spend the entire day exactly 6 months ago, 1 year ago? In the last month, which day and what time were you the most happy/sad?
How many could you answer perfectly? Sounds foolish?! Well, for some of us, even answering the first question perhaps turned out to be tough.
4 Major Reasons
Why does this happen? We are dealing with one of the complex organs in human body – brain and its function of storing and retrieving information. Few reasons for why we forget are listed here. Following is a summary.
- Retrieval Failure – Information is lost because the memory trace holding the information has not been rehearsed and hence cannot be retrieved.
- Interference – Information that needs to be converted into memory competes with other memories (for possibly the same trace) and result in interference.
- Failure to store – Information does not register into a memory trace because it is considered redundant.
- Motivated forgetting – Information is forcefully removed from the memory by conscious effort because it makes us unhappy or brings pain.
Root cause?
Looking at the reasons we infer that there is “something else” that is
involved in making a decision. Whether it is concluding that information is
redundant, or deciding that specific memory trace of an unhappy moment to be
removed, there seems to be another part of us playing this role.
Possibly reasons mentioned above are just a manifestation of “something else” based on its actions. If this “something else” can be considered the root cause, it certainly holds the key to address our questions about forgetfulness and maybe more.
Possibly reasons mentioned above are just a manifestation of “something else” based on its actions. If this “something else” can be considered the root cause, it certainly holds the key to address our questions about forgetfulness and maybe more.
Boon or Bane
Just imagine what would happen if we could recollect everything vividly about our past. Would it help us make better decisions?Or would it be harmful because we would end up brooding upon the bitter memories? Perhaps there is a hidden reason as to why human brain is designed to be the way it is.
Does your memory tell anything else?
Posts
