Neuroscience: The Metaphor of Lethe and Mnemosyne.
Legend has it that two rivers flowed in Hades: Lethe and Mnemosyne. Whoever drank from the first forgot his existence and whoever drank from the second remembered everything. This story highlights a very important function of our own brains.
In fact, the ability to forget allows you to improve your life. This is illustrated by a beautiful Greek legend that perfectly exemplifies the process of remembering and forgetting – the metaphor of Lethe and Mnemosyne.
Forgetting information is sometimes as important as or more important than remembering it. But you probably often get frustrated because your brain has a tendency to blur data, experiences and images and you can't recall them clearly. Also, faces fade from your memory and you even have trouble remembering where you met certain people, where you left your keys or the name of that hotel where you had such a good time.
We live in a world that conveys the idea that memory is a reflection of our cognitive health. It's actually the classic executive function that you tend to exercise the most in school. You memorize to establish new information and learn and pass your exams. But over time, some of this information fades and disappears like smoke up the chimney.
But you tend to forget that this depends on a principle of brain efficiency. What you don't use, you eliminate. It is a healthy process. This is actually how your brain maintains its subtle neurological balance and takes care of your mental resources. Because although it is often claimed to be the case, your brain is not like a computer after all. It is a body with limited capacity. Therefore, it needs to prioritize and save energy.
Discarding useless details is a basic principle of cognitive efficiency for our survival.
Forgetting is good for memory.
The metaphor of Lethe and Mnemosyne
Greek mythology and also Plato's book The State tells the story of two rivers in Hades: Lethe and Mnemosyne. The first caused forgetfulness and the second promoted memory. In fact, some burial inscriptions from the 4th century B.C. shows that the dead drank from the river Lethe to forget their lives. Therefore, they could not remember their previous existences when they were reincarnated.
Plato pointed out that in Greece there were groups that practiced a mystical religion. Its initiates were asked to drink from the river Mnemosyne to achieve supposed enlightenment. Remembering every detail of their current and past lives was perceived as a form of revelation. But in reality, such an ability, if it could ever be realized, would drive us crazy.
Our brains are not actually designed to store every bit of information, detail, image, word or experience. Furthermore, humans and even animals must forget in order to remember. We will explain why.
Every form of organism is programmed to forget unimportant information. This is how new learning is established and survival is promoted.
Lethe, to forget in order to develop better
The Greeks believed that the effect of drinking water from Lethe lasted until early childhood. This would explain why we cannot remember being born or our first two or three years of life. But in reality, a child does not remember their first birthday because of a process that is both fascinating and important: the neurogenesis of the brain.
Before birth and during the first months of life, children produce a large number of neurons. Gradually, the first synapses appear and neuronal pruning occurs. In other words, synaptic connections are removed to form a more specialized and efficient brain. In this process, memories are erased, but greater strength and cognitive agility are achieved.
Neuroscience believes that forgetting is an active mechanism that starts working from a very early age.
Every species that has memory forgets according to the metaphor of Lethe and Mnemosyne
This metaphor highlights that any living thing possessing memory must forget in order to survive. In fact, a study conducted by The Scripps Research Institute Florida in the United States, shows that dopamine is essential for creating memories and learning. It is also important in promoting forgetfulness.
This phenomenon occurs in both humans and fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). In fact, mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, insects, and even fungi have the function of forgetting as one of their most fundamental mechanisms.
This to the extent that experts such as cognitive psychologist Oliver Hardt from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, say that every organism, no matter how simple, must constantly erase information. Only by doing this can it better adapt to its environment.
Eliminate the artificial, remember the essential
Experts in forensic psychology know that a witness rarely remembers an event with absolute precision. These experiences underpin the metaphor of Lethe and Mnemosyne. In other words, we have to forget some data in order to remember (prioritize) others. Thus, the fact that man lacks a photographic and precise memory fulfills an adaptive purpose that is both logical and efficient.
Consider, for example, individuals who have been victims of robbery with assault. If they were to remember the color of the attacker's shoelaces, the rip in his jeans, the sound his jacket made when he moved, or the angle of the sun reflected off it, they would be storing useless data in their brains.
Their brain only wants to retain the essential information from the experience to prepare for future situations. The rest is superfluous. It does not help the individual to know the color of the attacker's hair. He is more interested in determining the context in which the event occurred in order to be prepared to act next time.
People who drink from Mnemosyne (hyperthymesia)
Hyperthymestic syndrome defines a rare condition in which an individual can remember a large portion of their life experiences in exceptional detail. However, note that the incidence is extremely low among the population. But in 2005, the University of California in the United States published a study that described the case of a certain woman.
Let's say individuals with hyperthymesia have drunk from the water of the river Mnemosyne. Their memory does not respond to any mnemonic technique but is automatic and spontaneous. This may seem like an extraordinary gift, but it is not. In fact, those who exhibit this peculiarity also exhibit some characteristics that autistics possess.
In addition, these individuals often feel mentally exhausted. This hinders their cognitive performance. Remembering data, scenes and experiences in an involuntary and constant way is something of a burden. These individuals are not geniuses, nor do they exhibit above average intelligence. Quite the opposite, actually.
People with hyperthymesia spend an excessive amount of time thinking about the past and cannot control the memories that come up. This prevents them from focusing on reality.
Forgetting and remembering form a perfect balance that protects our cognitive efficiency.
Memory promotes our learning and our adaptation to the environment. It is thanks to our memories that we acquire experiences and update ourselves daily in terms of knowledge and wisdom. But forgetting allows us to advance as a species by modeling more flexible and efficient brains, capable of storing valuable information and eliminating what is not particularly useful.
In the balance between the two lies our cognitive success. It is there that the secrets of our survival are hidden.What is the brain? The brain is a complex organ that controls thought, memory, emotion, touch, motor skills, vision, breathing, temperature, hunger and every process that regulates our body. Together, the brain and spinal cord that extends from it make up the central nervous system, or CNS.
Samuel
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