Four Reasons Why I forgot Your Birthday!

Memory is an imperative attribute in all humans. It is described as the ability to retain information and acquire knowledge to be recalled at a later time. Memories can be long term or short term however, despite one’s ability to remember information from years or days prior it is possible to forget information. Inability to recall information compelled science to look further into why sometimes memory fails and also how it can be improved. The article How Memory Works  explain that there are three types of memory. First, sensory memory; it is our ability to hold our 5 senses after the original stimuli have ended. Second, is short term memory or “working memory which allows a person to hold key information in their mind. Lastly, there is long term memory (semantic memory) which is where we store past events and patterns. 

For many years, despite our understanding of the “mapping” of memory it had been difficult to fully grasp why people forget things, or remember things much more efficient than others. We’ve explored genetic factors, old age and overall health of a human to explain this lack of efficiency in memory. According to this article "Very well Mind"  a renowned memory researcher, Elizabeth locus most recent research may have narrowed down an explanation to why we forget into four major categories; retrieval failure, interference, failure to store, and motivated forgetting.

Ever feel like the information is “floating” in your mind but you cannot quite put it together; this is known as retrieval failure the most common cause of forgetting. This phenomenon is known as “decay theory” which means as we retain new information, old ones begin to disappear, and if the information is not rehearsed it is eventually lost. The theory of interference suggest that memories will “compete” and interfere with information that are similar that were previously stored. Another reason we forget is “failure to store” which suggest that losing information is sometimes a result of failure to make it to long term memory. This is most common among students; it is very easy to remember the overall topic but it is very likely to forget minor details. The last category is “motivated forgetting” which is an unconscious form of forgetting better known as suppression of memory. Motivated forgetting mostly relates to traumatic memories that we actively work to forget.

Unfortunately, forgetting is inevitable but we can put memory improvement strategies into practice. Healthline  suggest eating less added sugar can help improve memory because it’s been linked to diseases including cognitive declined. Meditation is widely known to reduce stress and blood pressure which contributes an overall brain function improvement. Lastly, the golden rule we all are most familiar with; getting enough sleep. So, the next time you forget a friend’s birthday be sure to refer them to this article.

 Posted by "Fredjah Desmezeaux" (4)