Why do people forget things?

Question

Surely your brain can remeber everything

Answer 1

Nothing is forgotten, it's just that you can't access the part of the memory you need sometimes.

Answer 2

Whenever new information is stored in the brain, a new pathway is made to it. Everytime you recall that information the pathway is reinforced and becomes stronger. If you dont recall things very often the pathways become weak or disapear entirely making recall difficult or impossible.

This process is also influeced by internal and external factors at the point of storage. For example an internal factor may be the amount of alchohol you have drunk, since alchohol supresses it inhibits storage. Or for example an external factor may be a very shocking event that is unusual, making you pay much more attention, in this case the pathways will be stronger immediatly and you will recall a lot more.

Memory and forgetting are very interesting subjects and a lot of research has gone into them. If you browse the net, you'll find a lot of theories on short term and long term memory, and what influences forgetting

Answer 3

Some people forget things for different causes! Like getting old.. some people slowly loose some of their memory over time. Some people have had head injuries that causes them to lose memory. And some people are like me and they are usually doing a million things at once and just get side tracked and forget things. :D


P.S See, I almost forgot to say Have a nice day before I submitted this to you. :0)

So have a nice day... :)

Answer 4

I'm no expert but thinking about it this is what I guess....
The brain remembers things by forming associating connections (dendrites?) between neurons. The connections can break (we're not perfect in every respect), so it is no longer possible to recall things from memory and the memory is eventually entirely forgotten.
There are things destroying our body's cells 24-7 (viral infections, particle radiation, electromagnetic radiation, inadequate nutrition & glucose, free radicals and other toxins, conducted heat etc) but because our body's structure is hard-coded into it's DNA in every other cell we are usually able to repair our body cells. Unfortunately nurons stop being created in your early20's (?if memory serves) and from then on the total number of nurons falls. When a nuron dies, it's connections can't be transferred to other nurons so memories are slowly lost. Connections break even when nurons aren't dying though.
I guess if you recall a memory then it must refresh connections because you then tend to remember it longer (the benefit of revising important things periodically eg next day, next month, next year)

Stating the obvious: Sometimes the connections are still there, but you can't access them to recall the memory (ie. you need reminding of something associated to the memory to help you recall it - it's not that you've actually forgotten something, more that you can't remember it).
Also you need to develop the ability to create connections, the more you achieve this the better you are able to commit things to memory (more things absorbed in a given amount of time, and remembered for longer). They say even adults can develop their memories to enhance them, but I'm beginning to have my doubts.

Answer 5

We can't remember everything, there are ways of increasing your memory by doing certain 'training' if it can be called that.
Although we forget things easily, even the smallest thing can bring back the thoughts...

Answer 6

I'm sorry, what was the question again, oh yes i remember... someone told me last week that people lose their memory as they get older but he said that it is not true, it is because older people have so much knowledge that it just takes longer to sort through it all!

Answer 7

well they don't really know for sure, but here's my theory: first of all some brain cells die, and second, our brain learns by making connections between neurons, if some of these connections are not used for a long period of time they sort of atrophy, and you forget stuff

Answer 8

lack of use

what did you eat 3 years 2 months 14 days ago?

Answer 9

there are a lot of things that make us forget, but mainly its stress related, I think.

Answer 10

our brains r too small..we have too many things to remember..memory loss.