Krish Patel - Week #14 - Forgetful
We have all been in a situation where you forgot something that you are just about to say. That feeling when you want to tell your parents or friends something exciting, but you always forget it right when you grab their attention is the worst feeling ever. You can almost taste the words that form on your tongue, but you have a brain fart and forgot everything. This annoying experience is called the “tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon,” and it happens so many times.
So you must be wondering: Why does this happen? It turns out that our brains are extremely complicated and sometimes too complicated for our own good. You see, when we store words in our memory, we often link them to sounds, experiences or even taste for foods. Sometimes, our brains mix them up and output the wrong word, or you just stand there looking dumbfounded because you can’t put the words together.
Another cause is interference which is the neurological equivalence of traffic jams. When words are too similar or connected, our brains often mix them up even though their meanings are not similar at all.
The good news is that we can train our brains to compensate for these issues. Techniques like spaced repetition or associating words with sensory feelings can strengthen those mental connections in order to avoid this issue. And more often than not, if you do blank out mid-presentation or conversation, then staying calm will help the word pop back in your mind because we calm ourselves down for our brain to properly restore the “library” of words in our brains.
Source: https://www.deviantart.com/tanimatecomics/art/Forgetting-words-726256758
Hey Krish! This is such a relatable experience. I tend to think of something in my head (generally a funny moment) and begin to tell my friend about my memory, only to forget what I was planning to mention midway through. Beyond just regular conversations, due to the nerves of presenting in front of an audience (like during a POAS presentation), I find myself to be more forgetful.
ReplyDeleteThis forgetfulness is not just limited to words. I constantly forget where I last left my phone, watch, and keys, searching frantically throughout the house. I liked your comparison to traffic jams because they really are similar. I find myself less forgetful once on a roll of words (like on a free-flowing highway) and suddenly find myself constantly braking between words at a random point before the jam suddenly clears up and I remember what I meant to say.
Hi Krish!
ReplyDeleteThis blog was really relatable! This sometimes happens to me if I am giving a presentation or telling a story. I think the name “tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon” makes it pretty easy to understand what it’s about. I always thought that this happened because of being stressed or just having a lot on your mind. It’s funny that sometimes our brains are too complicated, and we just mix things up. I like how you compare this to a traffic jam and that words can get mixed up when they are similar. Have you ever trained your brain to compensate for this? I personally haven’t, but I think it is a good idea to in the future once people get older and tend to forget more things as they age. I enjoyed reading your blog this week, see you tomorrow!
-Colin
Hi Krish,
ReplyDeleteI found your blog article to be not only extremely relatable but also informative and useful. I definitely find myself losing my thoughts and train of thoughts sometimes when I am put on the spot or have to talk to large groups of people especially. It also occurs to me sometimes when I’m just talking to one person, but more often it’s usually a large group of people. I wonder if the cause of this is stage fright and lack of public speaking skills tying in with the neural effect that you described in your blog post. Before reading your blog post, I didn’t know this phenomenon had a specific name nor did I know that it was such a widespread phenomenon that there was actual research and medical terminology for it. That was quite enlightening and relieving, for the fact that I now know that I am not alone when it comes to the “tip-of-the-tongue” phenomenon. I also wonder if the extent and form of this phenomenon changes as we age. Is it something that becomes worse as we grow older, or better? I will also definitely look into the techniques that you mentioned regarding how we can train our brains to better reject the sort of memory loss that occurs on the spot.
-Ritwik