In Brief Canadian neuroscientists have proposed a novel way of understanding how the brain stores memory. In particular, they hypothesized that forgetfulness is the brain's way of prioritizing information that's crucial for survival. The Usefulness of Forgetting
Weve all had moments of forgetfulness, and not infrequentlythe act of forgetting about something can have a negative impact on our day or even our lives. Some even consider being forgetful to be asign of damage in the brain, particularly the area tasked with storing and retaining information.While this may be true in the case of memory disorders, Canadian neuroscientists from the University of Torontopropose that the typicalmoments of forgetfulness with which most of us are familiar are actuallythe brains way of making us smarter and that those moments may even make our lives better.
In a study published in the journal Neuron, researchers offered an alternative hypothesis as to why the brain purposefully works to forget information. Though not entirely a new field of study, the neurobiology of forgetting has been relatively unexamined, as co-author Blake Richards explained during an interview with NPRs Andrea Hsu.
Their researchfound that the brains ability to store huge amounts of information can often be hindered by keeping memories that may be irrelevant for our everyday existence. In fact, I would argue theyre not just irrelevant, but they can be detrimental to living our daily lives, Richardssaid. Information that isnt necessary for us to evolve and survive, then, isnt necessary for the brain to retain.
Our memories ultimately are there to help us make decisions, to act in the world in an intelligent manner, Richards went on toexplain. Evolution cares about whether or not you are an individual whos making appropriate decisions in the environment to maximize your chances of survival.
Researchers argue that forgetting is actually a function of memory. Ironic, right? But when you think about it, it actually makes a lot of sense.
Much of Richards work on memory and forgetfulness is thanks to his application of theories on artificial intelligence (AI) and how the brain learns. He said that in the world of AI theres a phenomenon called over-fitting, where a machine ends up storing so much information that it hinders its ability to make intelligent decisions.
Richards hopes that by understanding the neurobiology of forgetting, well be able to design AI systemscapable of interacting with the world and making decisions the same way human beings do. Luckily, there are many studies currentlyfocused on trying to make AI systems or artificial neural networks behave like human brains. One crucial aspect were still working on is how to facilitatememory development in AI.By understanding the nuances of human memory, it may be possible to design AI systems that distinguish between information thats trivial and whatsnecessary for survival.
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Neuroscientists Say Forgetting Things May Be an Essential Part of Our Brain Function - Futurism
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