For a good memory: forget something

Childhood memories are probably best kept in picture books, not in mind. It turns out, remembering past memories can make you forget important dates or things you need to buy during the day.

>>> Benefits of forgetting

Too many long-term memories can make it difficult to connect new information chains and handle short-term memories, which is the result of the study published in March 2007 in the Regular Report. of the National Academy of Sciences (USA).

" In our world, people always have to get a lot of new information, so we need to filter out unnecessary information, if we don't do this it will be buried in a lot of information ", Dr. Gaël Malleret, a member of the research team at Columbia Medical Center.

Hippocampus is a structure located inside the temporal lobe of the brain.Illustration of the underside of the brain, lobe of the brain at the top, occipital lobe at the lower charge(Photo: en.wikipedia.org)

New research shows that in order for memory to work well, the number of neurons that are newly developed in the hippocampus must be less - this is the brain region involved in the retention of information & memory formation . This helps people forget old information or useless information faster and can receive new information faster.

Previous researchers have believed that the growth of new neurotransmitter neoplasia in the hippocampus region, known as neurogenesis, will benefit memory. But according to new research results, Malleret & colleagues conducted experiments on two independent mouse groups by blocking the activity of neurogenesis, to show improvements in working ability of memory - results is improved short-term memory.

The mouse must determine where the food is placed in a maze. As a result, the mice that were inactive for the neurogenesis selected & found food faster than the mice in which the hippocampus was not inhibited.

'We were surprised to find that the developmental barriers of neurons in the hippocampus will lead to improved memory, which suggests that too many memories are not always good and distracting. Forgetting is necessary for a normal awareness & behavior, " Mallerer said.

Researchers believe that this discovery could lead to an exit for efforts to combat the abnormal functioning of memory.

"In medicine, this finding has important implications in therapies aimed at improving memory," Malleret said. 'The balance of neurogenesis is necessary to address memory improvements in order to keep people outside the information flooded with too much activity'.

Nam Hy Hoang Phong (Translated by 'Key to a Good Memory: Forget a Few Things', Sara Goudarzi, LiveScience)