Flexi Says: Everyone experiences some degree of forgetfulness. Although serious memory problems can be related to a variety of diseases or injuries, forgetting some information is part of the brain's normal activity. Researchers are still studying many aspects of how the brain works, including how and why it forgets. Key mechanisms involved in forgetting may include decay and interference. Decay occurs when the web of brain cells that form a memory in the brain break down over time if the memory is not accessed. Interference occurs when new information partially overwrites or makes older information more difficult to access. Neuroscientists have recently proposed that forgetting some information is an adaptation of the brain that makes it more flexible and able to make better decisions. As you grow and your environment changes, it may be helpful to forget some information from the past that might be less relevant to your new situation.
