Memory lapses are normal and occur to all types of people, especially as they age. Most of the time, this forgetfulness is nothing to be worried about. But when should you start worrying? When do these memory lapses become indicative of an underlying disease? How would you know if your forgetfulness is just part of the normal aging process? Even neuroscientists and physicians cannot fully guarantee the normal from the abnormal memory lapses. However, they have identified some key differences between the two.
Some people will always be better at remembering than others but all can experience memory loss or distortion. Basically, there are six types of normal memory problems. These memory flaws become more pronounced with age and should not worry you unless they become extreme and persistent to the point wherein they interfere with your daily activities.
1. Transience
Transience is the tendency of a person to forget unused information or events over time. Unused, meaning the person does not frequently recall or recap a certain memory to mind. Scientists actually regard transience as beneficial, although it may seem like the opposite, since it prevents the brain from overloading and makes way for newer, more useful memories by clearing up the unused ones.
2. Bias
One common myth about the human memory is that your brain records everything in complete, accurate detail when in fact, the things you remember or your perception of things is filtered by your personal bias. The memories that your brain is making or the memories you recall are influenced by your beliefs, experiences, prior knowledge, and mood. For instance, people prone to depression recall negative memories better than they do with positive ones.
3. Blocking
Blocking is the temporary inability to retrieve a memory. Perhaps the most familiar example of blocking is when some certain information is right on the tip of your tongue, but you simply cannot pinpoint it immediately. Blocking usually occurs due to a barrier, an intrusive memory similar to the one you’re trying to recall but instead, you retrieve the wrong one. This barrier is what prevents you from keeps you from finding the memory you’re looking for. Blocking becomes more pronounced with age.
4. Absent-mindedness
Absent-mindedness occurs because you were not focusing or paying close attention to what you were doing or hearing. In this case, your brain does not encode information securely because your mind was on something else or on nothing in particular. For instance, you misplace your car keys because you weren’t paying attention to where you put it in the first place. Forgetting to do something at a prescribed time, such as taking your medicines or keeping an appointment, also involves absent-mindedness.
5. Suggestibility
Suggestibility exposes your brain’s vulnerability to the power of suggestion. Suggestibility occurs when you hear of an information after the occurrence of the real event. This information is then incorporated in your brain and clouds the facts, making you think that you’ve experienced a memory even if you have not. This is why people usually recall of a childhood event that never really happened.
6. Misattribution
Misattribution is when you remember something partly accurate and partly inaccurate, misattributing certain details like the time, place, or people involved in the memory. The instances wherein you believe to have thought up of an original idea when in fact, you’ve seen, read, or heard it elsewhere but have forgotten about it is also misattribution. This usually occurs in writers, leading to unintentional plagiarism. Misattribution becomes more common with age because your brain doesn’t absorb information as efficiently anymore and because your memories grow older as well.
Other factors may also be the cause of your memory lapses. If you’re taking new medicines, stressed, sleep-deprived, or multitasking, you may be more prone to forgetfulness than when you are not. If no one else seems to notice anything wrong with you, then you shouldn’t worry either.
