Most people picture human memory as something resembling a secure metal vault into which we cram our valuable—and not so valuable—thoughts for safekeeping. The people with the biggest vaults, then, can keep the most stuff. They know the most and make the fewest mistakes.

As this special report shows, however, human memory is a far cry from a passive storage unit. It behaves more like a seamstress who sews concepts from threads of vital information while snipping away extraneous material. The best memory, therefore, is not the one that holds the most data, but the one that can deftly distinguish between the pieces to keep and those to discard. In other words, the most astute individuals can both remember what is vital and, critically, forget the rest.

4 Comments

1. 1. CaNO3 08:58 AM 1/18/12

   I forgot I had read this, SOPA refresh my memory after 18:00

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2. 2. Smerv 10:09 AM 1/18/12

   More evidence for Albert Schweitzer's view:
   
   Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.
   
   

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3. 3. Dr.Kamlander 12:13 PM 1/18/12

   Many years ago I met a lady ( the aunt of my girlfriend) who translated books and wrote novels. The two woman mentioned the burial of a relative, about 15 years earlier and talked about somebodies dress at the funeral.
   The aunt remembered the smallest detail of somebodies dress. I was amazed to meet somebody with the perfect memory. We then talked about this phennomen in lenght and when I envied here she told me that it is a burden, not a pleasure to have such a memory.
   Dr.Kamlander@aon.at

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4. 4. scilo 05:19 AM 1/19/12

   My 93 year old friend, passed now, told me she records selective things in her memory by visualizing a tape recorder. It seemed to work well for her.
   If we could remember being babies, maybe we could remember how to remember.

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