The mechanisms of forgetting

Psychologist tells about an active forgetting, disorders of training and specialization of neurons.Can you give a definition of forgetting? What is an active forgetting and how to explore? whether the process of forgetting is necessary for our body?

The first who began to study experimentally forgetting was Hermann Ebbinghaus, who bought the book on Fechner's psychophysics in Paris and became interested in the problem of an experimental study of the psychological functions. And he built the first table to reproduce the material data, and since then the problems started. Because, as it became clear quite often that people forget, he recalled later. Or it turns out that he had forgotten, but it somehow still affects his behavior - this seems to be forgotten information. Thus, it appears that strictly define what forgetting, quite difficult.

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On the one hand, there is the so-called strong determination - forgetting a total loss and the disappearance of some information, that is, in fact, return to the past. When the body is in a sense it returns to step back, and the information is lost forever. The problem with this definition such that it can not be verified, it is impossible to end to make sure that all options used checking whether information has disappeared. There is always some possibility of another option. Another story with a weak definition. Poor definition states that forgetting - it is impossible to remove at the moment from memory something that previously been removed. There is enough of that, let's say, I do not remember at some point - so, I forgot. It is much closer to us the definition. The problem with it is, so that, in fact, nothing can not be forgotten, it is impossible to prove that any forgotten that through.

The most interesting is the study of active forgetting. They mean that our body forgets not just happen, but does it on purpose, and it is a normal, adaptive, necessary process. And here are three interesting lines of research carried out on the molluscs, insects and mammals, that show similar things. In the shellfish on the pond ordinary, an experiment was conducted in which the body is destroyed certain neuron in the brain of the pond. Shellfish such a feature, they have quite a large nerve cells, many of them have been identified and described, and we know that without them, the pond snail can not do. Among other things, it is one of the nerve cells, without which truncatula can not learn a new skill. We also learned that after learning a new skill, when the cell is preserved, if destroy it, it will not just be able to study further, but he also will not be able to forget and what learned before. In other words, forgetting that occurs normally in the presence of this cell, this cell is required, there is no forgetting and without it.