Is Being Forgetful Actually a Sign of Unusually Intelligent People?

Those people who keep forgetting things should bear in mind that now it is their time to shine. Most people tend to remember the most mundane things, but there are some who always have a difficult time remembering what they ate last night.

Well, research claims that being forgetful is not as bad as we’d think. In fact, it means that those people are more intelligent. Why? Keep reading to find out.

What Do We Usually Forget?

Forgetting names is the most common thing that happens even to the best of us. But, there is nothing worse than forgetting the grocery list while you are going to the store. Also, forgetting the thing you went to get in the first place can be very annoying.

No wonder we think that forgetting is infuriating. However, you don’t have to feel dumb for forgetting these things, and here is why.

Supported by Studies

According to a study issued by the Neuron Journal, being forgetful could mean that you are smarter.

In fact, forgetting is a natural process of the brain. Professors from the University of Toronto claim that having an ideal memory has nothing to do with intelligence. Furthermore, the study shows that forgetting some things can make you smarter.

It is normal for the brain to erase the memories it doesn’t need. This way, the brain will automatically empty some space for new information to come in. As you can see, the brain is very smart. Smarter than most people think.

The hippocampus, or the area where the brain stores the memories, filters only the most important events or information. In other words, the brain allows us to remember what means to us the most.

All the unnecessary information simply gets flushed out to make space for new more relevant information. In addition, the brain allows us to optimize intelligent decisions by holding onto important information.

The Brain Gets Crowded

This theory makes a lot of sense. Let’s say the brain has to choose between these two most important things: remembering faces or names. The brain will choose to remember the face, and it will automatically filter out the names.

Why? It is simple. If we were animals and we would like to stay away from enemies, we would remember the face of a threat. In other words, we will stay away from the threat if we recognize it. But, remembering the threat’s name will not help us avoid danger.

As you can see, the brain decides what is important to store in the memory by automatically separating important from irrelevant information. In this case, it is important for us to remember the face of the threat, but not the name.

Therefore, the brain will remove the name from the core memory.

How Does It Work?

The brain retains new memories by overwriting the old ones. When it gets too crowded with old unnecessary memories, these memories will interfere with our decision-making and processing of information.

As a result, the brain removes these memories to make space for new more useful memories. Therefore, it is completely OK and healthy to forget mundane information and details once in a while.

In fact, it means that your brain is working perfectly and is making space for new more important information.