Brain Stuff

Dark MCF Secret #238: I've been listening to KJoy 98.3 FM more and more these last few months, during my evening commute. As bad as it is for a devout KRock listener to admit this, the revelation is made worse by the fact that I'm listening to a show hosted by John Tesh. They say confession is good for the soul, do they not? Still, I'm glad that a bag over my head allows me to maintain my secret identity and walk down the street with no one the wiser.

Between songs, he often shares tips on life, from interesting facts to diet suggestions to social advice. Tonight he spoke about the complexity of the human brain in contrast to a computer, and its superior processing power. I'd had a similar discussion about logic, binary computing, and brain functionality earlier in the day with my friend Rey, so my interest was piqued. When he then posed the question, “So why do we forget where we left the keys?”, I turned it up and listened intently. I'm obsessive in the morning, checking and rechecking that I have my keys, wallet and more. Despite this, and the daily nagging feeling that I've forgotten something that freezes me at the front door, actually making me even later for work, there are times when I really do forget something important. Even at work, I'll sometimes go three days without doing something, even with a note stuck to my monitor. Tonight, when I read “hand in book jackets” at 6 PM for the third time this week, I moved the note closer to the center of my screen, to make it more conspicuous. I once prided myself on my memory, and now that I was inevitably falling, any chance to slow my descent had to be seized.

Mr. Tesh explained that our brain only has so much capacity, which decreases as we get older. Like a glass of water, when you over-fill it things will spill out. It's not realistic to expect otherwise. Additionally, what our brain does to maintain efficiency is to not remember every detail, but rather general impressions. It's kind of like compressing files on a computer to preserve hard drive space. We remember the general schemata of biting into an apple and tasting it, but not every individual apple we've ever had. If we did hold those specific details, there wouldn't be room for any thing else. It's the same with keys. We don't remember putting them on the counter every single night, just the general impression that keys will be on the counter. If for some reason we deviate from that general impression, we may not have the specific recollection of leaving them in the door or the ignition or dropping them on the floor and getting distracted before picking them up.

What then is the solution? Why do we remember things like riding a bike? He explained that riding a bike is a muscle memory, so we retain those instinctive motions even if we don't remember every experience. He said incorporating other senses--sights, sounds, smells--can reinforce the schemata. Certain colorful foods like blueberries and beets are also memory enhancers. And as bad as my memory has been, I did retain quite a bit of what he said, even three hours later. I guess it's because it's attached to the visual memory of my commute and the auditory memory of his voice on the radio. If I read this on a scrap of paper in a nondescript room with no distinguishing features, I'd be drawing a complete...

...what was I going to say?