Why Misremembering Is Normal and How to Improve Recall, According to Science

 Nice News - We all forget things and mix up details from time to time. Birthdays, capital cities, the name of that place where you had the best tacos ever just a few weeks ago, or perhaps one of the most commonplace causes of modern confusion: where in the heck you last left those car keys. But really, how normal is the act of misremembering? According to an article written by Robert Jacobs, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, for The Conversation, imperfect recall or guesstimation may very well be your brain doing its job to the best of its ability.

Human memory has limited capacity, and according to Jacobs, some errors are inevitable, particularly when vague inputs and uncertain conditions and information are in play. Flawless perceptual and cognitive performance is an unrealistic expectation for humans, and with ambiguity, uncertainty, and deadlines thrown into the mix — seemingly constant aspects of modern life — Jacobs makes a compelling case for misremembering being normal and understandable.

Cognitive scientists generally acknowledge that the ideal cognitive strategy is to combine perception — things you observe and experience — with a general understanding of how our world typically works. But when we attempt to recall and think under pressure and deadline, and with a finite attention span, then, according to Jacobs, often a good enough solution is exactly that — good enough.