Why Forgetting Is Not Really a Bad Thing? Here's What Neuroscientists Say

Memories come and go during our lifetimes. There may be countless events that we could not forget, and there are some bits that we may have unconsciously dumped away from our thoughts. However, the brain has specific storage and when it reaches its maximum capacity, anything after that could either be replaced or spilled out from memories.

Why People Forget Memories

Several studies have investigated how memories work, but there are still unexplored aspects of our neurological functions that keep most secrets around the concept. General assumptions lean towards the effect of time as a cause of memory decay, causing many people to miss and forget some of their precious thoughts unintentionally. However, a new study suggests that "forgetting" might not be a bad activity after all but a distinct approach to intricate learning.

According to a report by EurekAlert, the authors of the research said that humans could access specific pieces of memory, and these changes through the predictability and surrounding feedbacks that we encounter. The experts explained that forgetting memories is an essential function of the brain, contrary to popular belief that it is a "bug" in our neural system. It also serves as a reaction that allows our thoughts to interact with the environment in a dynamic pattern.

Times are changing on our planet, and as we progress, immeasurable challenges correspond to our lifestyle. The study presents that throughout these breakthroughs, forgetting specific memories could help people improve in their decision-making and behavioral flexibilities. Forgetting memories that are deemed unimportant and irrelevant by our minds in response to the current circumstances could also be a track towards maintaining our well-being.

Memory Storage in Engram Cells and the Benefits of 'Natural Forgetting'

Forgetting memories offer a chance to the positivity of our brains, but in exchange, we lose information. On the bright side, forgetting is not just a simple elimination of invaluable thoughts, but it can serve as an alteration of the previous knowledge that an individual has already established.

The development of the theory was led by Trinity College Dublin Trinity College's Institute for Neuroscience and School of Biochemistry and Immunology expert Tomas Ryan alongside the Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto expert Paul Frankland. Both scholars are fellows of the Canada-based research institute Child & Brain Development Program.

Ryan explained that memories work through a neuron cluster known as engram cells that when activated, could successfully recall and access thoughts from the past. Basically, forgetting memories are induced by the failure of engram cells to reactivate.

Memories are just stored in the neurons called "engram cells", but recollection would be ineffectual without the activation of the specific ensembles. Engram cells can be compared to a safe, which cannot be unlocked without the required code.

"Our new theory proposes that forgetting is due to circuit remodelling that switches engram cells from an accessible to an inaccessible state. Because the rate of forgetting is impacted by environmental conditions, we propose that forgetting is actually a form of learning that alters memory accessibility in line with the environment and how predictable it is," Dr. Ryan explained.

Dr. Franklin added that there are several approaches to how our brain forgets, and each of these moments makes it harder for the memories in engram cells to be accessed. The experts theorized that 'natural forgetting' can be reversed through certain operations. Alzheimer's disease, for example, has a chance to be resolved, as the engram cells are somehow hijacked during the illness, leading to failure of memory access and memory loss. The study was published in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience, titled "Forgetting as a form of adaptive engram cell plasticity."

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