I have noticed when it comes to things like telephone numbers, addresses, model numbers, part numbers etc, That I will automaticaly delete them from my memory very quickly after I no longer have a use for them.
Other things that relate to experiences no matter how insignificant seem to never get deleted. Even things like vocabulary words. I will not be able to recall them when I need them but will quickly recognize them when I see them, so they are not deleted.
What I am curious about is are there different ways that we store information? Do we make some kind of decision as to where in our brain we will store something?
I left out the important part, I am a retired truck mechanic. The last 15 years I worked we relied more and more on computers to diagnose the trucks, order parts, assign work, keep records etc.
Once we went to computers it seemed like the moment I left work at night it was 100% off my mind. The amount of things about my job I needed to rememeber were now very small and my brain readily accepted that. It was like a switch going off where I remembered nearly everything to remembering almost nothing. Somehow this is all sub consious?
I still remember some utterly useless phone numbers, such as my grandparents’ (they’ve been gone for many years) and the phone number of my childhood home. Yet I still have to double-check my current cell phone number.
I’m not sure why we “forget” some things but remember others.
Yes; there’s several different sorts of memory. People with brain damage can suffer amnesia that destroys one kind of memory but not another, demonstrating this.
For example, “narrative memory”, our personal memories that are basically the “story of our life” can be entirely lost by such a person, but not “general knowledge” memories; they’ll remember, say, the name of the state capital or what the Washington Monument looks like, but not their own name, where they live or their mother’s name.
Numbers I can remember from 40 years back. Names and faces are another story. I’ve never been good at names and even if I do spend enough time around you to burn it in, give it say 3 years of no contact and its gone. I’ve held 10 minute conversations with people in the mall or somewhere only to walk away - the wife asks who that was and I answer that I got NO idea. Can’t remember their name or where I know them from. I’m just good at faking it after all this time.
When I was in school, around 8 years old, I sang in the choir. Before my short-sightedness was diagnosed, you can be sure I remembered the words to new songs after we had practiced twice - they were projected onto a screen but I couldn’t read them.
After I got glasses I couldn’t remember any of the new songs. I didn’t need to, I just needed to see the screen.
Tell me the name of a one-hit wonder band and I won’t have a clue who you’re talking about. Tell me the name of the song and I won’t know the words. Play the song and I’ll probably be able to sing along.
This is what I am talking about, before computers my memory for statistics, mostly geographical was very good. Now I just look it up, it seems like when I no longer have a need I erase.
I wonder if keeping our hardrives cleaner lets our brains operate better?
I can remember the license numbers on all my dads cars and all my own cars up to about the age of 40. I think about half the US population can’t even tell you the license number of their present car.
Basically, yes, there are many different ways we store information, although to put it in terms of “where in the brain” is not really right. Most of our (extensive, but still incomplete) understanding of such issues is at a functional rather than at a neural level, and most if not all memory probably depends upon widely distributed networks of neurons, very likely spanning many brain regions.
I’ve heard (but have not personally experienced) that under hypnosis people can often recall impressive detail about things they experienced long-ago. One example came from the investigation of a crime. Based on credit card evidence, police investigators determined that a man had likely been at a gas station around the same time as the crime suspect. They found the man and asked him if he remembered anything about this incident from months earlier. His reaction was “Yeah, I think I may have been there, but that’s about the best I can recall.” Under hypnosis he was able to report the license plate number of vehicles that had been there - including the criminal’s. YMMV
This makes sense, some types of info don’t really stimulate the neurons much, things like part numbers or phone numbers. Experiences seem to be more stimulating.
I have dyscalculia (self-diagnosed but it’s pretty obvious) and one aspect of it is that I cannot remember numbers for the time it takes to cross the room, pick up a pencil, and write them down, without chanting them continually as I do so. I’ve had a new phone number for several years and still have to think before I tell someone what it is.
On the other hand, I have an intense musical memory and can sing songs I heard a few times long ago – maybe not with all the words, but with virtually all the notes correct. I learn new music very quickly, too, even though my sight-reading is crappy (it is the norm among singers that you either have excellent musical memory or you are a good sight reader, very rarely both).
I am unusually bad at faces and names, but I attribute this to my introverted personality and lack of social interest, not memory. My proof of this is that I almost always remember a dog (his name, and every fact) while not even recognizing the owner, much less their name.
I don’t know if things are “deleted” in one’s brain, as much as brains have different categories. For example short term memory (which is very short, as in seconds) is like a small cup – it can only hold a little, and it gets dumped frequently, it appears.
This is an excellent point. According to what I’ve read, we actually retain much, perhaps all, of the information that we “forget.” In other words, it’s not an issue of retaining information, but rather one of accessing it.
I remember phone numbers, license plates, and names and faces from 40+ years ago. I went to my 20th high school reunion across the country, the only reunion I ever attended, and was able to recall many names just by seeing the faces who showed up.
I remember the VIN # of the first car I bought in 1980. I sold that car in 1985.
I ran into a casual acquaintance from 1977 and I recognized her. I walked up and said hello, and she said I must be mistaken because she doesn’t live anywhere near San Francisco. I said that we were high school classmates in Connecticut. She’s one year older, so she wasn’t at the reunion. We weren’t even friends in school, and no I didn’t have a crush on her. For some reason I just remember her. She was B. McNally, that happened over 10 years ago, I haven’t talked to her since, and I can still picture her face and remember her full name.
It’s bizarre what we can remember. I can’t remember what I had for dinner three nights ago.
Ask me where someplace is and I can’t tell you effectively how to get there but I can drive/walk right to it. ( Part of this is the number of people who have no knowledge or interest in Cardinal directions. They want ‘left & right’ and to be instantly screwed if they make the smallest mistake. )