Most of us would agree that having a great memory is something that we can be proud of. When we are able to remember things from one moment to the next or perhaps even from day to day, it helps us at work, at home and in all aspects of our lives. The problem is, not all of us are able to remember things quite so well and sometimes, we might even find that we are being forgetful. It doesn’t matter if we walk into another room and forget why we got up in the first place or if we forget an important event, like an anniversary, it can be embarrassing and frustrating.
Of course, we would all like to think that we have good memories and perhaps we may even think that we can exercise our memory and become more intelligent at the same time. Although that may be true to a limited extent, scientific research has now proven that even if you do look foolish every once in a while because you forget things, it is not necessarily something bad. You will like knowing that science has quite the opposite to say.
This research was done by the professors at the University of Toronto. They show that having a perfect memory may have little to do with intelligence or cleverness. In fact, it may even be the opposite.
The majority of people would probably feel that those who remember even the smallest of details are likely the most intelligent.
According to the study, however, if you occasionally forget a small detail, it is perfectly normal. They even said that it is better if you remember the large picture and forget the details.
We tend to underestimate the complexity of our brain. The hippocampus part of the brain tends to weed out the information that is really not necessary. As CNN puts it, it helps us to “optimize intelligent decision-making by holding onto what’s important letting go of what’s not.”
This theory makes sense because, when you stop to think about it, it would be more important to remember somebody’s face than to remember their name. In a social setting, both may be important but remembering their face has a special degree of prominence.
When our brain is working, it doesn’t just delete memories or decide that something is more important than something else to remember. It is actually wiping memories by overwriting them. Our brain is bombarded with so much information that sometimes, having too many memories may get in the way. It can keep us from making important decisions and sometimes, our memories get jumbled.
None of us like to forget something important but don’t worry, it’s perfectly normal. In the end, we all forget things and now, science has your back.