Forgetful? Don’t worry ... it means you’re a fast learner

THE absent-minded often complain about their problem as if it were a curse. In fact, it might be a blessing.

Scientists say that if one thing slips your mind as soon as you move on to the next, you may be setting yourself up to do better at the second – and that forgetting could be the key to learning.

Glasgow University researcher Edwin Robertson said: ‘This means that it is quite natural and normal to forget things as soon as you have learnt them.’

Professor Robertson asked people to learn lists of words, quickly followed by a sequence of finger-taps similar to the movements made when keying a PIN into a cash machine.

He found that when the words and taps shared a similar rhythm, the movements were learnt more quickly. However, this came at a cost, because more of the words were forgotten. The effect was seen only when the two tasks were done in quick succession. This suggests that

‘Unstable memory is

a key component’

when the volunteers tried to memorise the tapping sequence before their thoughts about the word list were stored away, the brain pilfered from the initial memory, allowing it to do better on the finger movements.

But when a couple of hours passed between the two tasks, the first memory was stored away and the knowledge wasn’t transferred, the journal Current Biology reports.

Professor Robertson said: ‘Our work shows that an unstable memory is a key component of the mechanism for learning transfer. An unstable memory prevents learning from being rigidly linked to one task; instead, it allows learning to be applied flexibly.’

A Glasgow University spokesman added that the research suggested forgetting some of the vast amount of information ‘coming at you… is completely normal and necessary’.

A study earlier this year revealed men are worse than women at remembering to complete tasks. Rather than simply not listening when asked to do something, it seems they actually forget what they were told in the first place.