I’m talking about those things that you normally know but may forget momentarily. It’s like your brain draws a blank or can’t access the info. What causes that when it happens?
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Everyone is talking about neural pathways eroding over time, but that doesn’t explain why we “draw blanks” on information that isn’t very old.
In addition to neurons that activate various pathways in the brain, we also have countless **inhibitory neurons** that deactivate various pathways.
When someone asks what your cat’s name is, you don’t want to be flooded with images of every cat you’ve ever seen. Inhibitory neurons block the pathways that lead to irrelevant cats. This happens immediately, such that your brain can go directly to the cat you were asked about.
This process can malfunction, causing the correct pathway to become blocked by inhibitory neurons. The harder you try to recall the information, the harder the pathway gets blocked. Once you change topics and stop trying to recall that specific info, the inhibitory neurons turn off and then you can easily access the information again.
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