The Causes Why Humans Cannot Remember Simple Things
- U-Report
VIVA – It turns out that lately humans often cannot remember about simple things such as words that should be easy to say, remembering friends' names, and doing other routine activities. A memory expert revealed a surprising fact about human memory.
Lately, humans feel difficulty remembering simple things such as the names of friends or coworkers who have not met for a long time, words that should be easy to say, and doing routine activities, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
This is because of the fast-paced rhythm of modern life. For example, by the time we get home from work, we are already greeted with other activities and can forget about the usual ones.
All these changes are known to consume cognitive energy, which is often more than we think. It's no wonder, then, that humans can't remember what they ate for breakfast. The mind struggles with memory transitions.
"Our brains are like computers with so many tabs open right now," says neuroscientist and professor of cognitive science at the University of California, US, Sara C. Mednick remarked.
"That slows down processing power and memory is one of the areas that falters," Sara added.
In addition to the fast rhythm of life, acute and cumulative stress also causes humans to forget simple things more quickly. Then, research led by dr. Shields, an assistant professor in the department of psychological sciences at the University of Arkansas, US, shows that people who have experienced stress recently experience memory impairment.
Stress negatively affects attention span and sleep quality - which also impacts memory and can damage the brain leading to further memory problems.
Absorbing too much information can also mess with the brain. Doing other things while looking at various information on smartphone makes it difficult for the brain to store memories and events such as suddenly forgetting the name of the person you were talking to could happen.
Then during the pandemic, the majority did the same thing over and over again, so the brain became 'numb' to certain memories.
"When all our experiences come together, it's hard to remember any of them as different," says Zachariah Reagh, a cognitive neuroscientist and assistant professor of psychology and brain science at the University of Washington, US.
Memory declines with age, but medical science is not clear on exactly when. People age cognitively at different rates. Some studies reveal that memory peaks in the 20s and gradually declines, and then declines sharply starting around the 60.