More often than not, when thinking about how memory works and how the memorization process works, people want to figure out how to remember more information. But the forgetting process is equally important. If you understand what leads to forgetting, then you probably don't have to spend so much effort memorizing. To understand how people forget, it is helpful to consider the factors that cause it.
Age
Studies have shown that up to 5 years of age, a person remembers very little. It is believed that the reason for this is that he has not yet formed an understanding of himself as a person, so that he can structure his memories on this basis. That is why children usually forget everything that happens to them, and in an older age no one can remember their childhood in detail.
From 5 to 11 years of age, short-term memory improves greatly, after which it remains approximately at the same level until 30 years. That is, from 11 to 30 years old, people forget about important things, not because their memory fails them, but for other reasons.
After 30 and up to 70 years, memory usually deteriorates, but if a person trains it, then this does not happen. After 70 years, memory deteriorates due to aging of the body.
It becomes more difficult for older people to structure information, as the speed of nerve impulses and the time it takes for the brain to respond to them decrease. But if you give an elderly person time, then he is able to learn and remember new things. Mnemonic rules are helpful.
Use of information
It is believed that information that is not used will be forgotten very quickly. Indeed, this is often the case. But there are many exceptions to this rule. For example, if you learned to ride a bike as a child, you can get on it 30 years after your last try, and you will succeed, even if you feel insecure. The same goes for playing musical instruments.
It is noticed that the foreign languages that a child learned in early childhood, he does not forget all his life, even if he does not use them.
It also turned out that emotional involvement in the process of acquiring knowledge plays an important role. If a student at the university studied a subject with interest, then he remembers it for many years, even if this knowledge is not used.
Interference
This factor is much more significant than non-use of information. If you are studying two similar subjects at the same time, then one of them inevitably gets priority in your head. For example, studying two foreign languages at the same time from the same linguistic group, you will most likely remember only one well. The same will happen if you read two books at the same time on similar topics.
Suppression
This is a psychological mechanism that greatly affects a person's forgetfulness. If the action promises something unpleasant, then the brain may well turn on the process of "conscious" forgetting. This does not mean that a person forgets something on purpose, rather, it can be described as a protective reaction of the body to a stimulus. For example, this is how you can forget to show up for an exam or pay utility bills.
Physical trauma
Head injuries often damage the lobes of the brain that contain important information. It also happens that degenerative processes in the nervous system, imperceptible at first glance, lead to the same consequences.
