My father became bored once and said: I want to go home.
We are mainly at home, so I said to him: Well, go.
His response was: Will you come with me or will you stay here?
I replied: I will stay here.
He looked around as if he wanted to remember what he wanted to take with him, and then he came to me again at the table and seemed embarrassed by this situation, hesitated a little, but spoke in the end:
Can you - at least - give me a title or any other instructions?
For example, if you tell me to go to the end of the upper street until you see the folksy house that is supposed to be my home?
(Arno Jaeger, king in exile of old age)
In a poignant piece of literature, Austrian writer Arno Geiger breaks down the space in it for all the emotions he experienced that cannot be precisely described in a few letters.
The feeling that Jaeger wanted to convey to us consumed his description of more than 135 pages that jump between his past at times and settle in his present at other times, in which the vocabulary swims among the tears of a family that sees disease eating every memory stored in the mind of their father.
Their father, who was once their king, with his arrogance, with his criticisms, with his harsh character, but forgetting threw him into exile, he no longer remembers that he is the king, and that he has a throne, children and memories, he no longer remembers how old he is, not even who the person who shares his bed with him.
It is Alzheimer's that we also saw in the movie "Still Alice". Alice, a university professor who speaks several languages, and can be considered a human dictionary of several languages, began to forget her vocabulary little by little, even though she was at an age when the possibility of her being infected with this disease was excluded Which man is about to forget everything he knows, even about himself.
SB tells Meydan that her 18-year-old sister began to forget some simple things, such as her mother sending her to the next room to get something, but she arrives at the door of the room and thinks, "What brought me here?" This thing was repeated again and again, and the condition worsened with the girl’s diagnosis of psychological symptoms, which ultimately led to her diagnosis of acute psychosis.
Forgetfulness, a ghost that does not know when to visit you, or how it visited you, or what caused it, begins its visit with subtle steps, in a slow rhythm, to alert you to future danger and mental illnesses that cannot be described as easy.
But a medical study published says that some forgetfulness may indicate your high intelligence, so what is the story?
"We do not remember the days, we remember the moments. The richness of life lies in the memories we have forgotten."
(Cesare Pavese, Italian poet)
At the University of Toronto, Canada, researchers presented a study (1) that proves that what is being promoted about forgetfulness through movies and series is evidence of stupidity or a primary indicator of the risk of mental illness being incorrect.
Paul Frankland and Richards Blake, the authors of this study, explained directly that forgetting is a function of the brain that is no less important than the function of remembering. Forgetfulness and remembering are two equally important components.
In fact, forgetting is a sign of the brain’s flexibility in sorting important information from unimportant ones for disposal, in an effort to make room for more important information.
(2) In this context, researchers today suggest that the goal of memory is not to retain the most accurate information over time, but to guide intelligent decision-making and improve it by only adhering to information that may be useful to us in making decisions, as some memories are nothing but a disruptive factor that clearly affects our decisions.
"The real goal of memory is to improve the decision-making process," says assistant professor in the study Richards Blake, and this statement may destroy everything that we once thought or thought about as it is the main role of memory in preserving the smallest details. In the past, neurobiological research on memory tended to focus on the cellular mechanisms of the process of storing information, and little attention was paid to everything related to forgetting. Until now, it is often assumed that the inability to remember is due to the failure of the mechanisms involved in storing or remembering information, but the study came to say that forgetting some simple things such as a date with friends, the location of the keys, or when you only remember the essence of a conversation or a social meeting instead of Every big and small happened during the meeting, this means that your mind forgets the details, but it creates abstract memories that are more useful in decision-making and predicting the future (3).
Paul Frankland asserts, for his part, that "there is a lot of evidence in recent research indicating the existence of mechanisms that promote memory loss, and that these mechanisms are more distinct than those involved in storing information." In other words, your brain is actively working to forget those keys in the locker, for reasons that could be good (4). This quickly raises the question: Why is the brain expending so much energy for forgetting? Richards shows that the reasons that drive the brain to this act can be limited to two good reasons, the first is that we are in a world that moves at an accelerated pace and this generates a lot of information that we encounter on a daily basis, so any old information becomes "outdated" and unimportant, and he says: "If You were trying to navigate the world and your brain was constantly spreading multiple conflicting memories, so this makes it difficult for you to make an informed decision that suits your current time. ” (5)
As for the second reason, Richards says: "Brain efficiency is not measured as the most efficient person who remembers the 1972 World Cup winner. There is what is called" organization "in artificial intelligence, and it works by creating simple models that prioritize basic information but eliminate Specific details when analyzing large data sets. This is precisely what the brain does by extracting what is important only from past events and integrating it into the events of the present according to its priority, and getting rid of all less important things that hang in the middle, and he concludes by saying: “The goal of memory is to make you an intelligent person. He or she can make decisions in light of the current situation, and an important aspect in helping you to do so is the ability to forget some information. '' (6) (7) (8)
"My real problem is not forgetting, my problem is too many memories."
(Ghazi Abdul Rahman Al-Qossabi)
In the same study mentioned above, the researchers explain that forgetting episodic matters is not a concern. Rather, it indicates that the memory system that a person enjoys is healthy and sound, as there is no problem with being a forgotten genius person.
But if the person forgets important things more frequently and more often than usual, this may be a cause for concern.
In addition, most memory problems among young people appear for emotional reasons or intertwine with conflicting feelings, which leads to distraction and lack of focus, and thus leads to a less effective ability to make new memories or recall old memories.
Fortunately, all of these reasons are - almost - temporary or easy to fix, such as:
Pressure nervous:
Not only does the stress make us tired and irritable, but the claws of stress get in the mind as well.
A study in the journal Science found that stress can activate an enzyme called protein kinase C in the brain that can shrink our short-term memory circuit.
The enzyme impairs our ability to focus especially when we are dealing with many stressful situations, which is why you may forget the keys to your home on a day when you can think of a big business meeting.
(9) (10)
Multitasking:
The myth of multitasking, which advises you to work on more than one task in order to accomplish them all at the same time.
Well, it turns out that this wide focus is a bad thing for your memory, too.
Over-doing a lot of tasks can lead to stress, which may cause your memory to fail, and frequent interruptions between one task and another may make it difficult for your mind to form new or regular memories.
(11)
Lack of sleep:
You may be one of the people who does not care about the harms of lack of sleep, and you do not care at all about the future health consequences that will be caused by not getting enough sleep hours, well, today you have an additional reason to pay attention to your sleep, because lack of sleep leads to stress and anxiety, which in turn leads to tension, which leads to more From oblivion.
(12) (13)
Depression:
Depression seems to be the bright star of many psychological, health and mental problems. When you feel depressed, it will be difficult for you to focus on anything or deal with the world in a normal manner. This is - in fact - the reason why people with depression may have difficulty remembering things.
The level of distraction that depression poses can prevent your brain from creating new memories, the good news is that doctors are finding that our memories tend to return to normal when we deal with our depression.
(14)
Hypothyroidism:
This deficiency slows down our metabolism, distorts your sense of heat, and stimulates a feeling of sluggishness and laziness in general, and thyroid disorders can lead to insomnia and depression, both of which make our memories more weak and lethargic.
(15th)
Pregnancy:
Although studies have not 100% proven that pregnancy is one of the leading causes of forgetfulness, some researchers believe that forgetfulness symptoms or memory deficits can be caused by anything from hormonal changes to the stress and sleep deprivation that often accompanies pregnancy.
(16)
Ultimately, a strong memory depends on the health and vitality of your mind.
Whether you are a student studying for final exams, a career worker interested in doing everything he can to stay alert at your job, or an elderly person looking to maintain their health as they get older, there are many measures you can take to improve your memory and mental performance.
Fortunately, the human brain has an amazing ability to adapt and change, even in old age, and this ability is known as neuroplasticity.
With the right stimulation, your mind can forge new nerve pathways, change existing connections, adapt and interact in ever-changing ways.
In this context, the educational site "Exploratorium" offers some fun games that teach you to remember and test the vitality of your brain.
KeepYourBrainAlive also offers some unusual exercises to train your brain and boost its memory skills.
And remember that remembering small details is not a sign of your intelligence, and that the absence of those details from your brain does not indicate - at all - that you have any problem.
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Sources:
The Persistence and Transience of Memory
Being forgetful is actually a sign you are unusually intelligent, according to scientific research
Why forgetting is really important for memory: U of T research
Forgetting can make you smarter
BEING VERY FORGETFUL MIGHT MEAN THAT YOU'RE ACTUALLY A GENIUS, ACCORDING TO SCIENCE
Forgetting Things Could Actually Be Making You Smarter
Forgetful?
It might actually make you smarter, study says
Scientists say that being forgetful is actually a sign of higher intelligence
Stress Can Make You Forgetful
Does Stress Make Us Forgetful?
(Is That Why We Can't Find the Car Keys?)
Don't Forget a Name Again, and Other Tips to Help Hone Your Memory
7 common causes of forgetfulness
8 Signs That You Aren't Getting Enough Sleep
Memory loss (amnesia)
? Do Thyroid Disorders Cause Forgetfulness and Brain Fog
Pregnancy week by week