what determines what things we remember and what things we forget?
In: Biology
Context. Something that relates to the memory.
You may have a childhood memory you don’t remember on a daily basis, but suddenly seeing someone fall from a bike can bring that memory to the forefront.
People who “Lose” things all the time (Car keys, wallet, etc) usually don’t have a relevant context to where they placed the item. They drop the item down while on the phone or being distracted by something and you don’t remember.
One memory exercise is to put things in a “place” in your head. They did a study on people who enter competitions to remember various things (The numbers of PI, the order of objects on a table, etc) and that’s one of their tricks. Taking something and putting it in a “Place” in your head. Some of them used a bunch of boxes, others used a room. They would place the numbers or objects in a box or on a table in their head and retrieve it that way. It triggers the brain to have context when the memory is retrieved.
Remembering someones name is a hard one. The best way to give context to that is to repeat their name and look at their face as soon as you hear it. “Hi, I’m Bob” “Bob? Pleasure to meet you” it triggers your brain to give context and remember it (most times) in the future. Of course, repetition helps too. If you haven’t seen them in a long time, it’s harder to remember their name whereas seeing them daily is easier to remember.
Lots of documentaries and YouTube videos on this topic if you’d like to learn more. Both from how neurons fire in the brain to ways to train your brain to remember things better.
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