Memories
I’ve always wondered why memories fade away over time, even the important ones get lost over time. People often say that memories last forever but they don’t, memories are forgotten and memories are not meant to last.
According to Blake Richards at the university of Toronto, Canada,”The goal of memories isn’t to store information indefinitely but to optimise decision making in the future”.
Do memories disappear
Research states that memories never disappear, although our abilities to access ALL our memories may steadily disappear, memories are actually always in our subconscious even if we are unable to recall them.
Why do we forget
A theory states that forgetting is actually a functional feature of the brain, allowing it to interact dynamically with it’s environment. In world where change is constant it is often beneficial to forget some things so adapting will come easier. It will lead to more flexible behaviour and better decision making. Research has found that approximately 56% of information is forgotten within an hour, 66% after a day, and 75% after six days.
Have you ever felt like a peice of information has just vanished from your memory? One possible explanation is known as decay theory. According to this theory a memory trace is created everytime a new theory or idea is formed. Decay theory suggests that these memory traces eventually fade if they aren’t rehearsed or recited at different intervals. So, it technically means that any memory not revisited often will eventually fade so when you’re trying to remember something you haven’t really thought about for a long time it can be hard because the memory traces have disappeared. Research also suggest that the brain actively prunes memories that become unused, a process that is known as active forgetting, as memories accumulate, those that are not retreived eventually become lost.
There is also forgetting caused by interference. Some memories compete and interfere with other memories. When information is similar to other information that has been stored before hand, interference is likely to occur. There are two types of interference: proactive and retroactive interference.
Proactive occurs when an old memory makes it hard to remember a more recent memory.
Retroactive occurs when a new memory makes it hard to remember an old memory.
Sometimes the act of remembering something causes you to forget other things. This is known as reteival induced forgetting but it also helps reduce the chances of interference by forgetting one memory in favour of another.
How can we reduce the rate of forgetting?
Get plenty of sleep: Adequate sleep is essential for both physical and mental health.
Rehearse the memory: The most efficient way of committing information is to rehearse it repeatedly.
Exercise: Research shows that light exercise helps to improve the brains abiliy to remember and recall.
Some memories are precious and they need to be held tight and some just need to be let go. It’s sad that you can just forget huge turning points in your life when time goes on, some of us start feeling guilty for it. We need to be able to hold on to the precious ones and let go of the painful ones.
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