One of the pros of having an accurate fast memory recall is having something which is handy at school, like using it for learning multiplication tables and much more than that.
It’s handy at workplaces, for example when you are trying to remember others’ names.
With that said, forgetting about other’s names or fun facts happens to us all the time. However, when it happens, it’s not unusual to feel slightly dumb for having a bad memory recall ability.
After all, there is something worse, which is going to the grocery store and forgetting why you went there in the first place.
If you are like the rest of us, wondering why sometimes you forget seemingly easy things, the answer is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with your brain.
A study done by the Neuron Journal showed in fact that forgetting is an actually a normal brain function, which helps you to be smarter actually overall.
A study was done by professors at the University of Toronto, he found that having a perfect memory might have nothing to do with your intelligence.
On the contrary, forgetting minor detail might even make you smarter.
Traditionally speaking, the person who seems to remember the most of things is considered to be the smartest.
The study, however, found that by forgetting the occasional detail your brain is functioning normally. In fact, remembering the big picture as opposed to the tiniest details is better for your brain and your safety, in the long run.
See, our brains are actually a lot smarter than we think they are. Our brains are so smart that the memory storing section which is called the hippocampus, pour out the most non-important details.
As CNN put it, this process helps us to optimize our intelligent decision making, by keeping what is important, and weeding out what is not.”
By thinking about how it’s more important to remember someone’s face than a name. You will find that this theory actually makes sense.
Both face and name might be ideal for social purposes, but if we were animals, remembering someone or something’s face as being a threat to our lives will keep us alive, as opposed to remembering what it’s called.
Our brain doesn’t just decide what is important to remember, it actually stores new memories and overwrites old ones.
When a brain is full of memories, they are most likely to be conflicted and interfered with efficient decision making.
With the improvement of technology and our instant access to information. Retaining “big picture” memories with little details is becoming less and less important for us humans by the day.
Knowing how to Google the spelling of a word, installing a shower head is more useful to us now, instead of remembering exactly how to do it
This doesn’t mean that anyone should be forgetting everything, but it’s just declaring that it is healthy and totally OK to forget a minor detail once in a while.
So next time when you forget something, instead of freaking out, just remember that your brain is just doing its job.
