Absinthe & Cookies (a bit bitter, a bit sweet)

Backwards Association

Your Brain Remembers What You Forget

I've always thought I have a lousy short term memory. Not so much in forgetting where something is, but what I was going to say. My family will stop and let me talk, because they know if they don't, I'll have forgotten by the time they finish. The excerpt below is exactly how I try and remember what I was going to say. I backtrack from what I'm thinking now, to what made me think of it, and so on and so forth. Usually works.

As you dash outdoors in the middle of winter, you might make it halfway down the block before realizing that your ears are freezing because you forgot your hat.

Now, scientists have shown that even though you've had an apparent memory lapse, your brain never forgot what you should have done.

Memory works mainly by association. For example, as you try to remember where you left your keys, you might recall you last had them in the living room, which reminds you that there was a commercial for soap on television, which reminds you that you need soap, and so on. And then, as you're heading out the door to buy soap, you remember that your keys are on the kitchen counter.

Your brain knew where the keys were all along, it just took a round-about way to get there.

Posted by Ithildin at October 19, 2005 11:42 AM | PROCURE FINE OLD WORLD ABSINTHE