Two brain experts have come up with a new theory that says forgetting is actually a form of learning something new.
This new theory by Dr. Thomas Ryan of Ireland and Dr. Paul Frankland of Canada has been published online in the latest issue of 'Nature Reviews Neuroscience' in which they have examined human memory and the learning process (acquisition) from different aspects.
In their research, these two experts say that over time, our brain also learns which information is important and which can be ignored under different circumstances.
As circumstances change, the nature of 'essential' or 'important' information also changes, and our brain does not pay attention to outdated information that is not relevant to the current situation.
In neuroscience, collections of brain cells storing memory related to a particular knowledge or skill are called 'engrams'. When we remember something or an event about it, the related engrams are activated and the memory becomes 'fresh' in our mind.
Dr. Ryan and Dr. Paul say that 'forgetting' does not mean that the memory disappears from our mind, but that we cannot activate the engrams related to that memory when needed.
While this may appear to be a disadvantage, it is actually a great advantage because as our learning progresses, a large number of old memories can become a hindrance to our acquisition.
So, we can also say that by forgetting the old things we improve the process of learning new things and skills.
That is, the healthy human brain also regularly learns how to 'adapt' to adapt to changing environments and situations better.
During this time the brain cells remain the same but there is a change in their activity/movement which we call 'forgetting'.
Because when learning something new, our brain learns to activate different engrams and refresh different memories: memories that are useful to it.
Irrelevant memories are ignored, but it is wrong to say that we forget them. Those memories are there in our minds but remain numb.
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