Can’t Remember Her Name? It Could Mean You’re Highly Intelligent

Can’t Remember Her Name? It Could Mean You’re Highly Intelligent

It’s about keeping what you need, and discarding the rest.

Not being able to remember things can be worrisome. If you’re young, it’s usually tossed off as a momentary glitch.

But as you age, many of us fear that forgetfulness can be a sign of something else. According to the Mayo Clinic, people with early-onset Alzheimer’s can experience symptoms as young as 40 or 50 years old. (By definition, early onset Alzheimer starts before the age of 65).

This only happens in 5 percent of all patients who develop the disease, and so numbers are low, but still.

And so, it could be reassuring to know the next time you can’t remember your distant cousin’s name, or the exact address of that new restaurant, that forgetting things could be a good thing.

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According to researchers at the University of Toronto, forgetting impertinent information could simply mean your brain is being “flexible”.

Assistant Professor Blake Richards found that the brain gets rid of outdated information, and focuses on keeping what you use and need.

“The real goal of memory is to optimise decision-making,” says Richards. “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.

“The point of memory is to make you an intelligent person who can make decisions given the circumstances, and an important aspect in helping you do that is being able to forget some information,” he added.

And so, if you can’t recall what movie won the oscar back in 1972, fear not.

Richard’s study was recently published in the journal Neuron.

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