How Does the Brain Forget How to Do Something?
When we want to remember things, we usually repeat them until they become second nature. This process, often referred to as conditioning or brainwashing, involves the brain forming and reinforcing neural pathways. However, memories fade when we stop revisiting them, leading to what appears to be forgetting. This article explores how and why the brain forgets certain skills, in contrast to how computers store and process data.
Understanding Brain Function
Your brain is an incredibly advanced analog machine, far more complex than a typical computer program. Unlike the rigid functions of a computer, your brain’s neural pathways are adept at generalizing actions to a high degree, making your behavior almost automatic. In computer science, a program that takes input and generates output is called a function. These functions are defined and operate within specific parameters, unlike the brain.
Your brain, having evolved to predict outcomes of actions exquisitely, can handle a bewildering number of variables—in the millions, billions, or even trillions. Despite behavior appearing predictable on a macro scale (like driving a car quickly mastered in a week), the underlying complexity is immense. This flexibility allows you to adapt and learn new skills such as driving, despite the thousands of variables at play.
Understanding Forgetting Mechanisms
Forgetting works differently in the brain compared to a computer. Instead of caching data, your brain strengthens pathways used frequently and weakens those used infrequently. When a skill is not practiced, the corresponding neural pathways degrade, leading to a loss of memory. This is analogous to driving a skillless driver who, after a few months, would struggle to recall the intricacies of the road.
Consider the example of playing a song on the piano. If you stop playing for a long time, you may forget the melody. But once you pick up your piano and play, the skill reemerges almost effortlessly thanks to the neural pathways that were previously built and now are merely dusted off. This phenomenon is known as muscle memory.
Why Does the Brain Forget?
The brain’s approach to memory and forgetting works to its advantage in retaining the ability to perform many tasks efficiently. It prioritizes important actions over a few exceptional ones. By strengthening essential pathways, the brain conserves resources. Forgetting, therefore, is a mechanism to free up neural space and energy for new and important tasks.
While computers can overwrite data without losing information, the brain must rely on existing pathways, which can weaken and disappear if not used. Moreover, complex tasks, like mathematical computations or playing an instrument, require repeated practice to engrain into the brain. It is through this repetition that the brain can retain these skills effectively.
In summary, the brain forgets to conserve space and energy by weakening unused neural pathways, allowing it to adapt and learn new skills more efficiently. As a result, while you may forget certain actions, you can reacquire them with relative ease. This dynamic process keeps the brain flexible and capable of handling a vast array of tasks.