can’t find your keys and then you have no idea what your Facebook password is.

As you start to panic, it feels like your memory kind of sucks. But your brain is designed

to forget. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

[BrainCraft intro]

Psychological theories try and make sense of why we forget pieces of information, like

all of our passwords. Decay theory suggests we can’t retrieve information because over

time, traces of our memories fade away and eventually disappear.

Interference theory suggests new memories compete with our existing ones. When new information

is similar to a memory you already have, the new information interferes with your ability

to recall that existing memory.

And in some cases, we didn’t even store a thought as a memory in the first place.

Neuroscientists suggest many of these theories could be intertwined - at a tiny molecular

level in your brain.

We have a “forgetting protein” in our brains called Musashi. It messes with the

function of our synapses, structures that let nerve cells communicate with each other.

Another protein called Adducin, has the opposite effect and actually stimulates the growth

of our synapses.

Remembering and forgetting thoughts is like a street fight between Musashi and Adducin.

Their interaction and who wins depends on whether our thoughts transmitted across our

synapses are stabilized and stored permanently in our memory.

In one study, researchers genetically modified some ringworms - so their brains didn’t contain musashi.

Let’s just call them teenage mutant ninja ringworms. The regular and mutant worms

learned new information just as well, but the mutant worms -- without Musashi -- had

much better recall of information. They were less forgetful.

By removing the “forgetting protein” we learn more about how it works. It could help

us understand disorders where people lose their memories, like Alzheimers, and how to

treat them. But, sadly, we can’t go removing Musashi from our brains to have a super powered

memory. Our brains forget on purpose.

We need to forget because the ability to lose information keeps our brains flexible so they

can absorb new things. If we didn’t forget, we’d constantly recall all kinds of random,

extraneous information and we wouldn’t be able to focus on the present.

Forgetting your passwords is frustrating, but it’s totally normal. As we go about

our daily lives, we subconsciously find a balance between remembering and forgetting.

So a "brain fart" or a “seniors moment” isn't all that bad. Forgetting actually helps

you remember.

If you haven’t already, subscribe to BrainCraft for a new brainy episode every Thursday.