Forgot Where You Parked? Good
When we relearn something we couldn’t recall, we develop a richer form of understanding.
'School’s out for the summer — and so begins a long few months of parents’ and teachers’ worrying about all the things their children will forget before the fall. The fractions they won’t be able to multiply. The state capitals they won’t be able to identify. “Learning loss” is the name for it.
Forgetting is supposed to be the antithesis of learning, and whether we’re a kid or an adult, most of us are plainly embarrassed if we can’t recall a name or fact. But it turns out that forgetting can help us gain expertise, and when we relearn something we couldn’t recall, we often develop a richer form of understanding.
The notion that forgetting is a hidden educational virtue goes back a century or more. In a series of studies, the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghouse found that when people relearn information, they’re more likely to recall that information in the future.
Research explains why forgetting delivers this memory boost. Memories don’t fly out of our brains like sparrows from a barn. Instead, our brain will make memories more or less accessible. Some recollections, like the name of a close friend, are easily recalled. Other details, like the color of your childhood bedroom, have been tucked into deep storage and are much harder — if not impossible — to retrieve.'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/30/opinion/sunday/forgot-where-you-parked-good.html?
= new reply since forum marked as read
