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To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

quantamagazine.org

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Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#71

Post by ksec »

eruci wrote: post #9

Makes sense. It is best to forget useless things and fill the brain with useful ones. I was also going to say something else, but I forgot.

Well, whether or not it is "useless" depends on the person. Most human have emotional attachment to memories. And hence those that are more emotional ( whether it is inside or outside ) tends to remember things better and in tiny details.

And I actually doubt we "forget" about it. It is not like a computer sudden decide to do GC and you have more memory space. I think our brains tends to archive those "useless" things into somewhere deep, that takes lot of energy and take it back out.

I don't believe information is lost in our brain, it is most encrypted, compressed ( lossy ) and stored differently.

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#72

Post by dotancohen »

adriand wrote: post #17

I remember sitting at a bar in a distant city in some other country one night, and the person next to me, who I had just met that day, suggested that we do a shot together. Now these shots were big, and it had already been quite the night, and I remember thinking, "If I do this shot, it's probably the last thing I'll remember tonight." It was, but that's not the point of this anecdote. This experience gave me the ide…

It would become a "rape drug" slipped into drinks. The new Roofies.

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#74

Post by deno »

dhekir wrote: post #64
IAmGraydon wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such a drug exists. Namely, anything of the benzodiazepine class.

Can it or has it been used for UX testing? Having a way to "reset" people for interface testing would be useful. Preferably without side effects, of course.

Drugging people with hypnotics to test your shitty UI? This is the most HN thing I’ve seen in a long time ;)

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#75

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

ehnto wrote: post #63

Minor and probably not that interesting anecdote: I always struggled to remember sequences of numbers. Even if I had looked at the number just a fraction of a moment ago, they were gone. I would have to do things like repeat them over and over or remember two numbers at a time. I was always buzzing in my head anout remembering the numbers and that produced a noise that I think made me forget. Then I started cleaning…

Have you tried remembering the number as a picture rather than a list of digits? Works for me.

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#76

Post by jacobush »

ksec wrote: post #71
eruci wrote: post #9

Makes sense. It is best to forget useless things and fill the brain with useful ones. I was also going to say something else, but I forgot.

Well, whether or not it is "useless" depends on the person. Most human have emotional attachment to memories. And hence those that are more emotional ( whether it is inside or outside ) tends to remember things better and in tiny details. And I actually doubt we "forget" about it. It is not like a computer sudden decide to do GC and you have more memory space. I think our brains tends to archive those "useless" thing…

Apparently each time a memory is accessed, it gets written down back again. Imperfectly.

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#77

Post by ionised »

adriand wrote: post #17

I remember sitting at a bar in a distant city in some other country one night, and the person next to me, who I had just met that day, suggested that we do a shot together. Now these shots were big, and it had already been quite the night, and I remember thinking, "If I do this shot, it's probably the last thing I'll remember tonight." It was, but that's not the point of this anecdote. This experience gave me the ide…

Sounds like scopolamine:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyoscine

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#78

Post by saiya-jin »

ehnto wrote: post #63

Minor and probably not that interesting anecdote: I always struggled to remember sequences of numbers. Even if I had looked at the number just a fraction of a moment ago, they were gone. I would have to do things like repeat them over and over or remember two numbers at a time. I was always buzzing in my head anout remembering the numbers and that produced a noise that I think made me forget. Then I started cleaning…

hmm, I am a bit opposite - no issues with remembering even longer numbers (learned long serial numbers of all posters on the wall as a child just out of boredom), but introduce to me 2-3 people I haven't seen, and I simply can't remember their names. Feeling like a incompetent idiot guaranteed.

Names stick like 2 seconds around in my memory and are gone. Heck sometimes even a single person is an issue. My memory ain't greatest but for names specifically it is almost not writable. Tried few mind tricks but not really successful. I am sure there must be some way to get this to more acceptable level, anybody has any idea?

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#79

Post by taurath »

jeffwass wrote: post #15

Relevant convo between Sherlock Holmes and John Watson (My choice of Italics highlights). Below excerpt from A Study in Scarlet , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1887. —— My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled…

I actually wonder what the neurological research is on this subject. Does too much information crowd other information out?

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#80

Post by hutzlibu »

djsumdog wrote: post #57
firethief wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ambien is not a benzo. The bizarre behaviour it causes seems to be related to sleepwalking, which is not a common side effect of benzodiazepines.

I met someone who was on a clinical trial for Ambien. He'd pass out almost immediately, but first he'd see crazy wild hallucinations. But only for like 15 seconds to a minute. When it was finally released on the market, the dosage was a fraction of what he had take in his clinical trial.

I think you have to feel really crazy adventurous or desperate for money, to become a guinea pig for new drugs, that mess with your brain ...
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