Forgetting what you wanted to do, at the same time you were doing it, happens to everyone: it’s called the “threshold effect”. But what is it? Let’s see together how human memory works and what “tricks” the brain plays on us to allow us to adapt and survive
How many times have you entered a room and not remembered what you went there to do? Or meeting someone you know but can’t remember their name?
How memory works in the brain
Imagine your memory like a hard drive, each memory that is formed is stored in a folder and takes up space.
Memories are saved in this hard disk, or rather they are formed, when the connections, that is, the synapses, between the cells and the brain, that is, in neurons, are strengthened.
The stronger they are, the more the memory remains alive in us.
If we had to remember all the details of everything, we would immediately run out of memory space.
Forgetting to survive
Our brain is made to be ready to adapt to new things, which is why the connection between synapses and neurons is strong but not indestructible, otherwise we would not be able to survive. I’ll give you an example. Imagine that you always take the same route to go to a place, by now you know it by heart, one day roadworks prevent you from taking that route and you have to recalculate the route, which you will have to take until the works are finished. If our brain formed unbreakable bonds, we would not be able to reorganize ourselves.
Because you forget the name of someone you know
Forgetting the name of someone you know is normal because our brain makes sure to put aside some memories that we don’t often need. That person is probably not your best friend. To remember the name, just think of the alphabet to remember the letter it starts with. In this case the brain does not forget, it just makes the less important memory less accessible
Threshold effect, forgetting what we wanted to do a few moments before
The threshold effect, doorway effect, is what explains why we forget what we wanted to do or say a few moments before. Imagine that you are changing rooms to get the phone, in the meantime you think that you have to get your bike fixed and you remember that rain is forecast. You enter the room and it’s completely empty. What did I want to do?
In this case you have not forgotten. The brain is organized on levels that take precedence according to your attention, so you haven’t forgotten what you wanted, since if you think about it it usually comes to mind, but you have shifted your attention to the point of pushing the phone into the background you wanted to take.
Obviously these examples do not refer to people who have memory problems due to trauma or illness.
@greenme_it 😵💫Do you have memory lapses? Don’t panic, it’s not just you! It’s called the “threshold effect”: here’s why it happens!🧠 . . . #thresholdeffect #memory #curiousbrain #psychology #funfacts #braincuriosity
♬ original sound – greenMe
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