Keep Forgetting Things? Neuroscience Says It Might Be a Hidden Brain Advantage

Today, we have some good and interesting news to share on this front.

First of all, if you worry, stop. It’s not likely to help in any event. But second, it turns out that forgetting things might actually be a neurological advantage. 

As a summary of the theory put out by Trinity College in Dublin explained:

In other words, our brains learn to forget, and therefore, memories are never actually lost, but instead are simply made inaccessible — stored in the brain in a way that limits the ability to access them.

It’s an important distinction, according to co-authors Dr. Tomás Ryan of the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience in Dublin and Dr. Paul Frankland of the department of psychology at the University of Toronto, and one that leads them to believe that ” this ‘natural forgetting’ is reversible in certain circumstances.”

They also theorize that “in disease states — such as in people living with Alzheimer’s disease, for example — these natural forgetting mechanisms are hijacked, which results in greatly reduced engram cell accessibility and pathological memory loss.”

So, where does this leave you, as someone living, working, and leading today?

I hope it leaves you with a combination of hope, wonder, and an affinity for practical recollection strategies: Namely, shoring up your memory with checklists and calendars, and simply double-checking small things.

If I can make an analogy, long-distance runners don’t bemoan the fact that they need hydration and fuel in order to reach their goals; they just find ways to carry or stash water and calories.

And, in an example that hits extremely close to home, creative but naturally disorganized people, if they’re smart, don’t simply live in chaos; they find systems to help them get organized.

(In my case, that meant actually hiring a professional organizer to help me design the easiest possible practical ways to keep my things straight and myself on track.)

Finally, if you find yourself worrying about memory, don’t. Ryan and Frankland are correct, the answers are all in your head somewhere. You just need to learn how to access them.