Gransnet forums

Chat

Forgetting where you left your keys does not mean you are “losing it”

(31 Posts)
RosiesMaw Mon 29-Apr-24 07:49:44

I have said for years that a lifetime of being a multi tasking woman, wife, mum, now Gran, teacher , dog owner and everything else means that there are times when my brain is simply “full” and trivial things (like whether I locked the back door or my own mobile number ) simply “drop out of the bottom” of my memory.
Now I know that I was right, according to this article in the DT this morning

FORGETTING where you put your keys or wallet does not mean you are losing your memory, scientists have claimed in a new book.
Instead, they say the brain forgets on purpose so that it can store other information.
Two academics, Dr Megan Sumeracki and Dr Althea Need Kaminske, have written a book, The Psychology of Memory, to explain why people lose household items and how we better remember names and numbers.

Ladyleftfieldlover Mon 29-Apr-24 16:03:01

I’m a place for everything and everything in its place sort of person!
Years ago, the Bursar where I worked had to deal with his wife who had rapidly developing dementia, she was such a lovely lady. He said one day that it wasn’t so much her forgetting where things were, but what they were for. He would get a couple of mugs out and a jar of coffee and she would just blankly stare at them.

Urmstongran Mon 29-Apr-24 16:52:12

Once, about 3 years ago, I got into the shower and for the life of me I could not recall how to operate it. To be honest it scared me silly for days afterwards. The sudden panic and awareness that I just didn’t know how to switch it on. It freaked me out I can tell you. I worried about it for days afterwards in case it was the start of something serious.

Never happened since - with that or indeed anything - I’m thankful to say.

Wheniwasyourage Mon 29-Apr-24 18:49:52

In answer to the OP, forgetting where you left your keys may not mean that you’re losing it, but it does mean you’ve lost your keys, temporarily at least…

Think we need to do some more bumping of normal threads as we’re being taken over by spam again. confused

Squiffy Tue 30-Apr-24 10:15:54

I think that sometimes it’s not that we simply forget, it’s that we haven’t registered whatever it is in the first place.

Some things are so routine (locking a door, switching off the tv…) that we don’t register having done it. How many times have you double-checked that you’ve closed a window or locked the back door because you can’t be sure/remember that you’ve done it?!

Wyllow3 Tue 30-Apr-24 10:45:36

I've always had a thing about forgetting names. I can remember minute details about someones life and family to have a conversation and its just the name.