Pub. 14 2019 Issue 1

7 Issue 1 2019 / UCLS Foresights www.ucls.org Learning to Remember to Forget G etting older has happened much sooner than I anticipated. However, I have found the process has provided me with both positive benefits and negative detriments. The detriments typi- cally happen when my mind and body do not communicate effectively. Mentally, I believe I can compete in a game of basketball or outrun my grandkids. Unfortunately, my body often has a differing opinion and usually casts the deciding vote. Amazingly, there are benefits of being a senior citizen; discounts at restaurants and theaters – often without being asked, more free time with less stress, and the blessings of experience. However, the greatest benefit, for those who grew up in the 70s and 80s, might be the absence of pictures or videos on social media of the stupid things we did. Everyone has had a few inci- dents in their life that they would like to forget ever happened and hope all evidence has disappeared. Things like that time in third grade when you barfed on Nancy Whatshername while per- forming “America the Beautiful” at the spring concert; that time you persuaded a former friend to pee on an electric fence and how the shock nearly killed him; or that time you built a mountain of stolen pumpkins on the high school foot- ball field and then plowed through the edifices in your dad’s pickup truck. People have tried many techniques to erase or re - place unwanted memories. Instead of remembering the anger I had towards my mom for giving me a “bowl” haircut because she wanted me to look good for class pictures, I now refocus on the %%@// classmates that made fun of my hair cut. A study published recently in the Journal of Neurosci - ence points to a new way of ridding ourselves of some of the awful experiences that repeatedly come back to mind. It is called intentional forgetting. To intentionally forget is to purposely remember it differently. Intentional forgetting seems to come naturally to some people. It might also be called the ability to believe your own lies. Nevertheless, it is important to note that scientists think that intentional forgetting is a trait that practice will improve. In the same way that you can become better at remembering facts, you can also get better at believing that the facts you make up are true. People often have a misconception that accessing a memory is kind of like accessing a library book or comput- er file. They think that if you have a good system for organizing your memories you should be able to locate them whenever you choose. Anyone who has ever unsuc- cessfully searched their house multiple times for their keys or wallet knows that memories can shift and even seeming- ly make things disappear before their eyes. How many times have you embar- rassed yourself by trying to introduce a new friend to an old acquaintance and somehow forget both of their names? Cre- ating memories is not a static but rather a dynamic process. Reimagining our past memories in a different way gives us the ability to alter, and even to completely change history. Instead of remembering how stupid I felt for trying to punch out Mark the Monster, who outweighed me by 50 pounds and looked like a gorilla when he picked me up over his head, spun me around several times, and speared me headfirst into the playground, sending me to the emergency room for stitches, I will now focus on the loving observation of Ashley Awesome, who thought my new stiches looked re- ally cool. Some people may worry that losing your memory is a sign of old age. However, if we can selectively control what to forget it may instead give us a new age and a second chance at life. Life is what we make it and whoever said you could not change the past simply never perfected the art of lying to oneself. I am a person who gets better with practice. Getting older is awesome – because you get more practice. t STEVE KEISEL