• Question: why do i have selective memory? is there something wrong with my brain?

    Asked by jamaicanbob to Ben, James, Jen, Michael, Susanna on 12 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Jen Todd Jones

      Jen Todd Jones answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      Hi Bob

      If by selective memory you mean you only remember some things and not others then there’s absolutely nothing wrong your brain, this is completely normal! Sometimes people say we have ‘selective memory’ because we’ve forgotten something they’ve said to us and they think we’re doing it on purpose, so they make a joke and say we’ve got selective memory and forget the things they say on purpose. Really this is something everybody does, we’ve all got selective memories, and some of us are better at remembering some things than others. Nobody knows why this is, everybody’s brain is different and perhaps your memory area is a little different to someone elses, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it!

    • Photo: Michael Craig

      Michael Craig answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      My Dad has selective memory, he can never remember when my Mam asks him to do something…he blames his memory anyway.. As Jen says, everyone’s memory and brains are different, we don’t know why and how we remember things and how the brain organises this information in to things you should remember and shouldn’t. One of the main ideas is that we’ve evolved to remember things which are dangerous so we can avoid them in the future e.g. big sharp teeth usually mean a dangerous animal.

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