Have you ever experienced walking into a room and immediately forgetting why you went there, as if your brain suddenly “short-circuited,” losing its original memory? What exactly is going on here? Let’s take a look at what the experts have to say about it.
According to a report from Live Science, in order to understand why people quickly forget things, we first need to understand how human memory works and dispel some myths related to memory.
Susanne Jaeggi, a psychology professor at Northeastern University in the United States, explained that memory is not a simple matter. It involves various components and is associated with different cognitive processes.
She stated that memory can be divided into two types: long-term memory and working memory. Long-term memory refers to a broad, multifaceted category of memory involving knowledge, experiences, and skills stored in the brain for periods ranging from hours to a lifetime. On the other hand, working memory may only last for seconds or minutes in the brain.
Earl K. Miller, a neuroscience professor at MIT, compared working memory to a “conscious thinking whiteboard.” Every new piece of information, internal dialogue, and sensory input goes through working memory, and certain features of working memory may explain why people forget these thoughts.
Firstly, the capacity of working memory is very limited. Psychologists estimate that people can only hold about 4 to 7 pieces of information “chunks” in their working memory, such as letters, numbers, words, or phrases.
Miller explained that the brain does not process all of these “chunks” simultaneously but rather jumps from one idea to another, making individuals more likely to get lost in the shuffle and consequently forget things.
Moreover, the brain quickly discards unimportant information from working memory to make room for new information. Therefore, unless these short-term memories transition to long-term memory, they will disappear quickly.
Miller stated that because the brain cannot handle multiple tasks simultaneously, when our working memory constantly shifts between different thoughts, the brain must “juggle” these thoughts. This requires conscious effort and attention. If attention is focused on one thought or shifted elsewhere, the brain cannot keep track of earlier thoughts, leading to forgetting.
He likened this to dropping a ball while juggling, causing you to forget something.
He mentioned that when the brain is tired or impaired by alcohol or other substances, it is particularly prone to “dropping the ball,” or forgetting things. Age also plays a role, as working memory function peaks in one’s 20s and begins to decline in middle age.
To avoid forgetting so many things, Miller suggests that people should not multitask. This multitasking situation makes individuals more prone to forgetting.
Jaeggi shared a tip on how to handle forgetting – reconstructing the context of the situation and clarifying its origins can be helpful.
She said: “This means going back to the room you were in previously or recalling your thoughts. These contextual clues may provide the brain with additional impetus to backtrack a few seconds in working memory and retrieve the thought before it completely vanishes.”
Psychology Today website pointed out that working memory is a form of memory that allows people to temporarily store a limited amount of information for immediate use. It is considered crucial for learning, problem solving, and other mental processes.
Working memory is believed to fundamentally support various mental abilities. It enables individuals to retain multiple pieces of information for immediate use, which is crucial for activities ranging from reading or conversing, learning new concepts, to making decisions between different options.
There are many examples of everyday life instances where working memory is used. For example, remembering the first part of a sentence to understand the latter part, holding onto a number while doing mental arithmetic, recalling the location of an object just seen, remembering multiple concepts to combine them, and more.
Almost everyone uses working memory throughout the day, but the performance or capacity of this memory system may vary among individuals, involving one’s learning and operational abilities.
Research has shown that measuring an individual’s working memory capacity is closely related to intelligence, especially in tasks involving fluid intelligence for solving new problems.