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<\/div>Forgetting may be\u00a0integral to helping our brain remember<\/p>\n
Hans Neleman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
THERE are few things more frustrating than trying to recall a fact or memory and finding it has gone missing. You might ask yourself whether it is the start of mental decline or the onset of a degenerative brain condition. What you probably don\u2019t think is that forgetting is a good thing. But it can be. New research into memory suggests that it is actually a healthy and necessary brain function \u2013 and one that is becoming increasingly important in our rapidly changing lives. \u201cYou want to be able to adapt to your environment because your environment is always changing. But if you\u2019re overly fixated on your first experience, you\u2019re not going to behave adaptively,\u201d says Tom\u00e1s Ryan<\/a> at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. Intriguingly, his research also hints that forgotten memories remain in the brain, so could, if necessary, be restored.<\/p>\n Everyday forgetting \u2013 like not being able to recall what you ate for dinner last week \u2013 is called natural forgetting. This is in contrast to pathological forgetting, which results from brain injuries or conditions such as Alzheimer\u2019s. Far from being a problem, natural forgetting underpins one of our most unique and powerful traits \u2013 our ability to generalise. Though there are times when having an ultra-detailed memory is invaluable, like when revising for exams or acting as a witness to a crime, we can\u2019t generalise without playing fast and loose with specifics, says Edwin Robertson<\/a> at the University of Glasgow, UK. \u201cFor a chair to be thought of as a chair,\u2026<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n