Forgetfulness: Here’s Why It’s Actually Good for Your Brain

The natural pattern of forgetting isn’t just a limitation of brain; it also serves an important function. Forgetting helps us clear out less essential information. It makes room for more relevant details and allows us to focus on what’s most important.

Forgetting is something we all experience daily. It’s that moment when you walk into a room and suddenly forget why you went in, or when you see a familiar face but can’t recall their name, even if you just spoke with them.

But why does this happen? Is it a sign that our memory is weakening, or could there be a more beneficial reason behind it?

The science of forgetting has intrigued researchers for centuries. In the 19th century, psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus made one of the first major discoveries in this field with his “forgetting curve.”

Ebbinghaus found that we tend to lose details of new information quickly right after learning it, but the rate of forgetting gradually slows over time. This curve shows that memory loss follows a predictable pattern, with most details slipping away soon after we encounter them, and fewer details lost as time passes.

Advantages of Forgetting

•  Instead of being a sign of weakness, forgetting can actually support mental efficiency, helping our brains manage the constant stream of new information we encounter each day.

This concept has been validated by modern neuroscience, showing that memory loss follows predictable patterns.

• Forgetting also has functional advantages.

Our brains process a massive amount of information every day. If we retained every detail, it would become challenging to focus on what’s truly important.

• One way we naturally filter information is through selective attention.

Nobel laureate Eric Kandel and subsequent researchers have found that memories form when neural connections, or synapses, between brain cells strengthen.

• Focusing on something helps to reinforce these connections and supports memory retention.

Conversely, by not focusing on every detail, we can “forget” unimportant information, freeing up mental space for what truly matters.

This ability to filter helps us navigate daily life, though memory issues related to aging or disorders like Alzheimer’s show the complexities of attention and memory.

Handling New Information and Memory Flexibility

• When we encounter new information, our brains need to adjust our memories to make sense of it.

For example, if you take the same route to work every day, your brain forms strong memory connections for that route. This repetition strengthens the pathways that help you remember it.

Now imagine that one Monday, a road on your usual route is closed, and you need to find a new way to get to work for the next three weeks.

To remember this new route, your brain weakens some of the old memory connections and builds new ones to store the updated path. This flexibility in memory is essential; without it, we’d struggle to adapt to changes. For instance, if we couldn’t update memories, something simple like a road closure could cause confusion.

• Memory flexibility also plays a role in managing emotional responses.

•  In a survival context, updating memories has helped humans adapt.

Ancient hunter-gatherers, for instance, might have revisited a reliable water source, only to find it occupied by a predator or a rival group. Being able to update their memory of that spot as potentially dangerous was crucial for their survival.

Reactivating Forgotten Memories

• Forgetting doesn’t always mean information is lost forever — it might just be temporarily inaccessible.

Studies with animals shows that certain memories can be “reactivated.”

For example, researchers taught rodents to associate a neutral sound, like a bell, with a small shock. Over time, the rodents learned to expect the shock whenever they heard the bell, creating a “fear memory.”

Scientists then used light stimulation to reactivate the brain cells involved in this memory. This made the rodents respond with fear, even without the sound.

This research demonstrates that forgotten memories can sometimes be retrieved by reactivating the right brain connections.

This phenomenon may help explain the “tip-of-the-tongue” experience. In this experience, you feel you almost remember something, like someone’s name, but can’t quite access it

Psychologists Roger Brown and David McNeill discovered that when people experience this, they often recall parts of the missing word, which suggests that the memory is not lost but just temporarily unreachable.

• This might be due to weakened connections in memory, which could also explain why it happens more as people age and have more information to sort through.

The Value of Forgetting

Overall, forgetting helps our brains stay efficient by clearing out unimportant details, adapting to new information, and sometimes storing memories just out of reach rather than deleting them entirely. This flexibility has helped humans survive and function in changing environments.

While memory issues like those caused by Alzheimer’s disease have significant negative impacts. The ability to forget has many evolutionary benefits, allowing us to focus on what matters most in the present.

Hopefully, this article will be memorable enough that you won’t forget it too soon!