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On leaving home, many people suspect that they did not turn off the oven, while others do not remember where they parked their car. These are incidents of memory loss that many are concerned about. But shouldn’t we be in a hurry to assume the worst?
Undoubtedly, if given the chance everyone would choose to have a better memory.
However, professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California Charan Ragnanath encourages people to maintain such a perspective.
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In his new book Why We Remember: The Science of Memory and How It Shapes Us, Dr. Ragnanath says we all struggle with memory at some point, but there is a big difference between that memory loss and more degenerative memory loss.
In his book, Charan Ragnanath explores the fact that forgetting is not a concern. “Instead of fighting memory selectivity in a futile attempt to remember more, we can accept that we are designed to forget and use intention to guide our attention so that we remember what matters.”
“Most of the time it’s not a memory problem, it’s what I would call a failure of retrieval. It means we can’t retrieve information when we need it. Sometimes we need the right clue to find it, sometimes it can’t be found because memories compete with each other.”
“If someone were to ask me what constitutes a very competent memory, I would say being able to access the information that is important”
“People who have more severe memory disorders often struggle to leave new memories. Instead of not remembering the name of someone they just met, they may not remember meeting that person at all. On average, people with typical memories find it easier to remember recent events than events from the past, but people with memory disorders have the opposite problem.”
And while Rankanath acknowledges that some types of memory can be weakened by age – especially when it comes to remembering a specific event – there are some seniors who have strong memories well into their later years.
A clear message from the Indian scientist
Charan Rankanath goes on to explain that the human brain is not a memorization machine, it is a thinking machine. It helps us understand the world we live in.
“It is designed for economy and to quickly develop memories to understand the present and focus on the future. To achieve these goals, we can’t carry memories of every moment of our lives. If someone were to ask me what constitutes a very capable memory, I would say it is being able to access information that is important to us and recall life events that are somehow meaningful.
Amnesia (forgetting) is not a failure of memory argues Ragnanath.
“There are certain people who have what is called photographic memory and are usually experts in a particular field, such as great chess players or professional basketball players, with the ability to create vivid, detailed memories relevant to their expertise. But to my knowledge, no one has ever been reported to have a complete photographic memory for everything. And to be honest, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”
Rankanath’s message is clear in urging us to stop worrying about what we don’t remember and focus on the present.
“Life is short,” he says. “The transient nature of memory can make life seem much shorter. We tend to think of memory as something that allows us to hold on to the past, when in fact the human brain was designed to be more simply a record of our experiences. Amnesia (forgetting) is not a failure of memory, [but] is a consequence of processes that allow our brains to prioritize information that helps us navigate and understand the world,” he notes.
“We can play an active role in managing amnesia by making careful choices in the present in order to curate a rich set of memories to take with us into the future.”
