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Being forgetful is a sign of high intelligence, according to scientists

sglowrider

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A new study conducted by the University of Toronto is claiming that having a strong memory is a severely overrated asset and it concludes that being forgetful could actually be a benefit to your intelligence.

Professor Blake Richland, one of the publishers of the study, said:

It’s important that the brain forgets irrelevant details and instead focuses on the stuff that’s going to help make decisions in the real world.
We know that exercise increases the number of neurons in the hippocampus, but they’re exactly those details from your life that don’t actually matter, and that may be keeping you from making good decisions.


What information is discarded depends on the situation, according to Professor Richards:

One of the things that distinguish an environment where you're going to want to remember stuff versus an environment where you want to forget stuff is this question of how consistent the environment is and how likely things are to come back into your life.


https://www.indy100.com/article/forgetful-helps-make-smarter-decisions-study-memory-learning-8559396

For the link challenged; the UT study:
https://www.utoronto.ca/news/why-forgetting-really-important-memory-u-t-research


 
A new study conducted by the University of Toronto is claiming that having a strong memory is a severely overrated asset and it concludes that being forgetful could actually be a benefit to your intelligence.

Professor Blake Richland, one of the publishers of the study, said:

It’s important that the brain forgets irrelevant details and instead focuses on the stuff that’s going to help make decisions in the real world.
We know that exercise increases the number of neurons in the hippocampus, but they’re exactly those details from your life that don’t actually matter, and that may be keeping you from making good decisions.


What information is discarded depends on the situation, according to Professor Richards:

One of the things that distinguish an environment where you're going to want to remember stuff versus an environment where you want to forget stuff is this question of how consistent the environment is and how likely things are to come back into your life.


https://www.indy100.com/article/forgetful-helps-make-smarter-decisions-study-memory-learning-8559396

For the link challenged; the UT study:
https://www.utoronto.ca/news/why-forgetting-really-important-memory-u-t-research


I'm sorry...what'd you say again? ;)
 
I'm sorry...what'd you say again? ;)
lol.gif


I think now we men have an excuse why they never remember what the person wore on the first date. We were more focused on more important issues like how to get into her/his pants rather than the colour of his/her shirt/blouse.
 
My 9yr old is a fvcking genius then!...
A great memory makes school a lot easier....so people directly correlate good grades to intelligence...even though schooling is basically a test on memory not intelligence.
I think a more interesting study would be the relationship of sensitivity of one's senses (i.e. hearing, vision, tactile) and memory. The people i know who are intelligent (my 9 yr old), but have a poor memory also have focus issues due to a sense being heightened...and the input from that sensory stimulation overwhelms the brain. Kind of like pain...your brain only "feels" the most painful part of the body...even though there can be multiple pain spots. rambling done
 
It’s important that the brain forgets irrelevant details and instead focuses on the stuff that’s going to help make decisions in the real world.

I can relate to this and I wholeheartedly agree with it. Of course the question is what details are "irrelevant" and which ones are not. I don't consider myself to be a detail person. I found that has some distinct advantages in terms of the ability to quickly focus on the important and consequential issues. But not being detailed orientated can also be curse--as I have also found out. To be effective at what you do requires at least the participation of both kinds of people. One of the smartest people I know is highly detail oriented, at least more so than I am.
 
A new study conducted by the University of Toronto is claiming that having a strong memory is a severely overrated asset and it concludes that being forgetful could actually be a benefit to your intelligence.

Professor Blake Richland, one of the publishers of the study, said:

It’s important that the brain forgets irrelevant details and instead focuses on the stuff that’s going to help make decisions in the real world.
We know that exercise increases the number of neurons in the hippocampus, but they’re exactly those details from your life that don’t actually matter, and that may be keeping you from making good decisions.

etc., etc.
Nah, I am living proof that Prof. Richland is dead wrong.
 
A new study conducted by the University of Toronto is claiming that having a strong memory is a severely overrated asset and it concludes that being forgetful could actually be a benefit to your intelligence.

Professor Blake Richland, one of the publishers of the study, said:

It’s important that the brain forgets irrelevant details and instead focuses on the stuff that’s going to help make decisions in the real world.
We know that exercise increases the number of neurons in the hippocampus, but they’re exactly those details from your life that don’t actually matter, and that may be keeping you from making good decisions.


What information is discarded depends on the situation, according to Professor Richards:

One of the things that distinguish an environment where you're going to want to remember stuff versus an environment where you want to forget stuff is this question of how consistent the environment is and how likely things are to come back into your life.


https://www.indy100.com/article/forgetful-helps-make-smarter-decisions-study-memory-learning-8559396

For the link challenged; the UT study:
https://www.utoronto.ca/news/why-forgetting-really-important-memory-u-t-research

I wonder, though, if part of that is a function of how much info people take in. If things like Luminosity are truly helpful and exercising the brain makes a difference, the same might be true around this subject. The more input people take, the more they'll need to filter that info. That's arguably exercise. The less input people take in, the less exercise. In other words, it's not the forgetfulness that matters, it's getting to the forgetfulness that matters.
 
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