The inability to retrieve memory is the most obvious cause that makes us forget things. The process of storing memories leaves traces of that information in our brain which fades away with time. A trace is actually a kind of physical or chemical change in the cerebral cortex.
However, there’s also a wide range of neurological disorders, medical conditions, and diseases, that can trigger the occurrence of memory disorders.
What Influences Our Physiological Ability to Retrieve Memories?
Neurogenesis is a process in which the stem cells of the adult brain create new neurons. With aging, these cells lose their ability for regeneration, thus contributing to our deteriorating memory when we reach a mature age.
Namely, after we reach our ’50s and ’60s, the cognitive functions of the brain start to show signs of fatigue, which makes the retrieving of the stored information in our memory much more difficult.
In addition, the following factors can also strongly influence our ability to retrieve memories:
- Our personal beliefs;
- The psychological state we’re in;
- Knowledge;
- Mood;
- Degree of attention;
- Personal beliefs;
- A medical condition affecting the brain;
- Brain lesions;
- Brain tumors;
- Brain hemorrhage;
- Neurological diseases.
All of the aforementioned can affect and influence what information we actually retrieve from our memory at a given moment.
What Contributes to the Occurrence of Memory Disorders?
All memory disorders result from some kind of neurological damage to the brain structures and areas dedicated to memory, thus impeding the storage, consolidation, retrieving, and recollection of memories.
The following is a list of neurological diseases, unhealthy practices, and medical conditions, that can lead to a dysfunctional memory:
- Acquired brain injury – Congenital damage to the brain. The injury results in a change to the brain’s neuronal activity, thus affecting the functional ability of the neurons in the cerebral cortex.
- Agnosia – A rare memory disorder involving several senses (such as the sense of sight, smell, and hearing). It’s characterized by loss of the ability for recognizing faces, objects, places, and voices. While the affected individual is unable to process and translate the sensory information, the intelligence, motivation, and/or attention of the affected individual usually remain intact.
- Dementia – A medical condition characterized by a decline in memory or complete loss of memory, as well as difficulty in speech.
- Huntington’s Disease – A progressive neurological disorder resulting in loss of cognitive skills.
- Parkinson’s Disease – A neurological disease which can also lead to loss of memory due to a decreased production of dopamine.
- Memory decay – An inability to retrieve the information from the sensory stimuli stored in the short term memory of the brain.
- Amnesia – A loss of memory, pertaining to facts, information, and experiences, that results from injuries of the head and brain, certain drugs, alcohol, traumatic events, or conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.
- Lack of sleep – Irregular sleeping patterns can lead to brain damage and consequently, the inability of the affected individual to retrieve information stored in the memory.
- Depression – This psychological condition can lead to forgetfulness due to lack of concentration, focus, and clear reasoning.
- Vitamin B12 deficiency – This vitamin aids the health of brain cells. Thus, the lack of Vitamin B12 can cause various problems with the central nervous system, including memory loss.
- Alcohol abuse – Addiction to alcohol can result in damage to the brain structures, which in turn can lead to the loss of memory.
Can We Consciously Forget?
Sometimes, we even make a conscious effort to forget a traumatic experience. We may choose to consciously forget certain data. This process occurs in the frontal lobe where the consolidation of memory is blocked during the effort of retrieving the information stored in our brain.