How a "messy" memory makes it harder for us to remember things as we get older
A recent study showed that instead of having trouble retaining memories, poorer memory with age is caused by our reduced ability to focus on relevant target information, which means we include too much information in our memory.
Memories are an critical part of what makes us who we are. However, we all know that it becomes more and more challenging to remember things as we get older, from forgetting why you walked into a room, to not being able to remember details of a unique family event, to forgetting a familiar name.
Forgetting things can even be a of defining old age. Many people will cry like, "Oh my God, I'm getting old," when they can't remember something that used to be easy to remember. This forgetfulness of old age is easy to point out but harder to explain. The explanation could be that remembering something becomes difficult because something changes in the brain, making it harder to retain information.
However, a recent article in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences provides an alternative explanation for this phenomenon: our memories remain good but accumulate with age. First, it is essential to understand that memory is not an accurate record of life as it was.
Imagine remembering every detail, every minute, every hour, every day. That's impossible, and most of the information you place will be meaningless.
If you remember what you ate for breakfast this morning, is it worth remembering the shape of the clouds you saw outside the window or how many times you blinked while swallowing? Instead, we care about different parts of our environment, and the attention we pay to other details of our experience shapes our memories.
The authors of this new study reviewed various pieces of evidence on this issue. They suggest that instead of having difficulty retaining memories, poorer memory as we age is because we can less focus on relevant target information, meaning we include too much information in our memories.
This is beyond our control - it seems to be a natural part of aging.