14 DAY TRIAL // Many of us have, at least at one point in our lives, come to a situation when we had to tell the person we were talking to something along the lines “I don't remember if I've told you this, but ...” Apparently, this type of behavior is not something that is entirely owed to the fact that people forget stuff, but it may be something that is inscribed in our brains since birth. In other words, we may be hardwired not to remember who we've shared information with. The amazing conclusion belongs to a new study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of the respected scientific journal Psychological Science.
Researcher Nigel Gopie, from the Toronto, Canada-based Rotman Research Institute, and University of Waterloo scientist Colin MacLeod were the authors of the new paper. They have demonstrated in experiments that it is a lot simpler for the human brain to remember the pieces of information it received, than what it itself has shared with others. This is one of the first investigations ever to look at the way incoming and outgoing information is stored and organized in the memory. Thus far, scientists have only tried to determine how many types of memory there are (short-term, long-term, etc.), and how they function, LiveScience reports.
The scientists have classified this trait of the brain destination memory. Roughly, it translates into you remembering who you shared a certain piece of information with. And the study reveals that people who tend to be more self-focused are also the ones with the worst kind of destination memory. “If you were telling something that was highly emotional then maybe you would remember that information better. Psychologists think there is a limited set of resources available and so there's one central pool of resources, so when we take away from that pool there's fewer left to do things with,” Gopie reveals.
Destination memory is however very important to a lot of people, if for nothing else, than for their jobs. Managers, for instance, need to remember precisely to whom they gave a certain assignment, so that they can monitor their team's progress. Other employers also need to always know which person in the firm knows which details, so as not to mistake one of its employees for another, and reveal firm secrets. The researchers believe that, in these situations, those in charge need to be a lot less self-focused, which may help boost their ability to remember whom they told what information.