Forgetting: Function, Task & Diseases

Forgetting is a natural process that increases with age. Forgetting also serves to maintain mental health, because we cannot possibly remember everything we see, hear, taste, smell and feel.

What is forgetting?

Forgetting is a natural process that increases with age. There are two theories about forgetting: One assumes that over time all images and stored information fade and eventually disappear altogether. This would mean that we forget more as time passes. This theory has not been proven. The second one says that we forget because certain things are overlaid by more interesting and new impressions. Access to old information then becomes increasingly difficult. Several brain regions are responsible for memory, mainly the prefrontal cortex (frontal lobe) and the hippocampus. The hippocampus is used to store memory content. The frontal lobe at the front of the brain links memory content to emotional evaluations. The memory performance of individuals can vary greatly and depends on age, training and willingness to learn. Up to the age of 20, for example, memory performance improves constantly. After age 30, it gradually declines and can lead to memory problems in old age. Memory is also affected by accidents or brain surgery. The fact that we forget something does not necessarily mean that the contents are irrevocably lost to memory. Sometimes they can be revived, they were just “buried”. Key stimuli facilitate access to information in memory. Memory artists make this knowledge their own and, for example, combine numbers with images to better remember content.

Function and task

Forgetting is a natural process and happens frequently throughout the day and to everyone. We forget in order to be able to concentrate on what is important. However, forgetting can also mean losing one’s mental possessions and thus one’s connection to reality, as is the case with certain brain diseases. There are different theories about the function and process of forgetting. Forgetting occurs once because a certain time has passed between the observation and the memorization of things. Every word, every feeling and every thought is anchored in our memory. Without the power of memory, our consciousness would consist only of selected moments. Forgetting also protects us from stimulus overload, because if we remembered all the information, we would not be able to process it at all. To this day, the language of our brain has not really been deciphered. It consists of 100 billion nerve cells that are connected to form a dense neuron network. When a nerve cell is excited by a stimulus that hits it, an electrical impulse is transmitted to the neighboring cell. As soon as we learn something new and anchor it in memory, these connections between neurons strengthen, becoming denser and stronger. The more often we repeat this, the stronger the network becomes. Still, the process of remembering is like a puzzle. Many gaps are filled in by guesswork. But forgetting also depends on the individual’s physical condition and brain power. The stronger the emotional involvement, the more long-term the information is stored. Impressions that are associated with a positive mood are better remembered than impressions that are less touching. Memory can be trained very well and thus the recall rate can be increased significantly.

Diseases and ailments

Memory capacity is the knowledge that we can reproduce consciously and unconsciously (for example, riding a bicycle or typing). Forgetfulness is exacerbated by many influences. For example, stress is the greatest risk factor for forgetfulness in a healthy person. The stress hormone cortisol is thought to damage nerve cells responsible for memory. The hypothalamus is responsible for the production of cortisol. A mechanism ensures that too much cortisol is not released and that permanent stress occurs. In people with depression, this control mechanism does not work. More and more cortisol flows into the brain, leading to permanent stress and declining memory performance. People with damage to brain areas responsible for memory can also retain information for only a very short time.Damage to the hyppocampus leads to severe amnesia. Depending on the type of disease, short-term memory or long-term memory is affected. The effects on memory vary greatly, and can improve or worsen depending on which area of the brain is affected. Without these areas, conscious recall of the past is not possible. Causes can include severe alcohol abuse, brain infection or brain trauma. There is also the reverse situation, that illnesses or accidents lead to a very good memory. However, this is rare and can be seen, for example, in some people with autism, who are endowed with a photographic memory. In old age, memory stores less and less new information. Dementia is the most noticeable disease, which is accompanied by brain changes and memory loss, and in advanced stages leads to death. The disease is divided into three phases, each of which can last up to seven years. In some cases, sufferers can no longer remember their names and gradually forget the simplest actions. For example, they no longer know that the spoon is brought to the mouth when eating. If depression is cured, normal memory also returns. But unlike depression, memory loss in dementia patients is irreversible.