Blue Zone Your Memory No 7

The Forgetting Curve

Did you know that scientists have identified a Forgetting Curve? They have discovered that humans start forgetting new information and learning almost as soon as they are exposed to it. There is an optimum time for people to review this information and scientists inform us that this optimal time is just when retrieval becomes difficult. Through research, it has been discovered that reviewing important points that we want to remember at regular intervals will change the Forgetting Curve in a substantial way. This is called the "Spacing Effect" and educators are now implementing this technique in their curriculum design. Does it work for the things that we learn through everyday living? Scientists agree that it does, we just need a strategy for taking time to review information that is too important to forget.