Being forgetful is a sign of high intelligence: scientistsSeptember 29, 2018 - 15:25 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Being forgetful has, for the most part, usually gone hand in hand with a lack of intelligence, at least that's what film and TV generally try to tell you. However, a new study conducted by the University of Toronto is claming that having a strong memory is a severely overrated asset and it concludes that being forgetful could actually be a benefit to your intelligence, indy100 sys. Professor Blake Richland, one of the publishers of the study, said: It’s important that the brain forgets irrelevant details and instead focuses on the stuff that’s going to help make decisions in the real world. We know that exercise increases the number of neurons in the hippocampus, but they’re exactly those details from your life that don’t actually matter, and that may be keeping you from making good decisions. Professor Richards and Paul Frankland proposed that memory is utilised to optimise decision making by retaining valuable information and letting the other unimportant stuff go, essentially making room for the things that matter. They say that this aspect of forgetfulness is possibly a boon to us more than a hindrance. So, say for example our brain forgets specific details about a past event, yet it still remembers the larger picture, researchers believe that this allows us to generalise previous experiences better, as opposed to someone who can remember more minute details of the event. They are quick, however, to make a point of saying that if people forget important things at an alarming frequency, then this is a cause for concern. The study claims that forgetting details every now and then is a sign of a healthy memory system, working exactly as it's intended. What information is discarded depends on the situation, according to professor Richards: One of the things that distinguishes an environment where you're going to want to remember stuff versus an environment where you want to forget stuff is this question of how consistent the environment is and how likely things are to come back into your life. A good example of this would be, say, a supermarket worker who would encounter numerous different people each day, while a person who works at a small local cafe would begin to remember the locals. Supposedly, the best thing for storing memories is to not memorise absolutely everything, notes Richards. If you’re trying to make a decision, it will be impossible to do so if your brain is constantly being bombarded with useless information. We always idealise the person who can smash a trivia game, but the point of memory is not being able to remember who won the Stanley Cup in 1972. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | The Power of One Dram to benefit Road of Life charity The companies inform that the May beneficiary of The Power of One Dram is the “Road of Life” charitable organization. Ucom General Director gives lecture at French University in Armenia The General Director of Ucom Ralph Yirikian delivered a lecture at the French University of Armenia. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. |