Yesterday, it was a first name. Last week, an anniversary date. You have to admit it: for some time, you have been forgetting more and more, and you curse yourself every time. Worse yet: you already feel the threat of a Early Alzheimer’s.
However, this is certainly not the case, and it is even, according to the neurobiologist and member of the scientific council of the Observatoire B2V des Mémoires Robert Jaffard, a “Completely normal event. Memory is forgetting.” Very good, but why?
Forget to remember better
“Selective amnesia”. Here is the other, more learned name of the occasional blackout. “During sleep, memory sorts, keeps the useful and removes the unnecessary”, details the expert. In other words: it is better to forget what is not essential in order to effectively remember what is essential. “But there are also, it is established, voluntary omissions. It can be information that you do not want and that is repressed, even unconsciously.”
In short, once again, this is all a matter of selection, and most of these memory lapses do not indicate a memory derailment at all, quite the contrary: “This helps to keep and organize the elements. Hypermnesics can thus have both an exceptional and catastrophic memory because they record everything that happens but do not organize anything. “
Some omissions, on the other hand, are linked to a problem when encoding information: “If this goes wrong, it’s impossible to have a memory behind it. But sometimes you wonder if it is a recording or recall problem.” A reminder that sometimes is curbed by a key factor: stress.
Stress, this stick in the wheels of memory
If a simple problem of fatigue and therefore of attention (“if you are not careful when you put down your keys, you risk not finding them”) may explain an occasional memory loss, a peak in stress is also often the cause: “When we remember something, we put in place a process of recapitulation that reproduces the brain activity at the time of encoding. The increase in the level of cortisol in case of stress disorganizes this recapitulation. And therefore leads to restitution problems … “
On the other hand, be aware that if stress therefore disrupts recall, it greatly facilitates memorization: “You are emotionally aroused, and a release of norepinephrine allows better encoding and consolidation of information.” In short, relax, but not too much, in a way!
Also read:
- This (bad) habit is toxic to the brain and memory
- 6 tips to maintain your brain
- Alzheimer’s: 9 signs that may suggest it
- Alzheimer’s disease doesn’t always start with blackouts
