The Many Faces of Forgetting: Toward a Constructive View of Forgetting in Everyday Life

• Published in: Journal of applied research in memory and cognition Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 1 - 18
• Main Authors: Fawcett, Jonathan M., Hulbert, Justin C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washigton Elsevier Science 01.03.2020; Elsevier Inc; Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition
• Subjects: Applied cognition; Cognitive Ability; Creativity; Forgetting; Human; Memory; Memory control; Self-Concept; Forgetting; Memory control; Memory; Creativity; Applied cognition
• ISSN: 2211-3681; 2211-369X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jarmac.2019.11.002

Forgetting is often considered a fundamental cognitive failure, reflecting the undesirable and potentially embarrassing inability to retrieve a sought-after experience or fact. For this reason, forgetfulness has been argued to form the basis of many problems associated with our memory system. We highlight instead how forgetfulness serves many purposes within our everyday experience, giving rise to some of our best characteristics. Drawing from cognitive, neuroscientific, and applied research, we contextualize our findings in terms of their contributions along three important (if not entirely independent) roles supported by forgetting, namely (a) the maintenance of a positive and coherent self-image ("Guardian"), (b) the facilitation of efficient cognitive function ("Librarian"), and (c) the development of a creative and flexible worldview ("Inventor"). Together, these roles depict an expanded understanding of how forgetting provides memory with many of its cardinal virtues. General Audience Summary Our inability to remember the name of an acquaintance or an important date is both embarrassing and frustrating. For that reason, forgetting is often viewed as a sign of impending cognitive decline or even as a character flaw. These fears have even driven some toward the promise of memory-enhancing pharmaceuticals and digital technologies designed to preserve memories indefinitely. Long the stuff of science fiction, these promises are closer than ever to realization. In this article we instead argue that a life without forgetting risks sacrificing some of our most adaptive and virtuous qualities. We offer a fresh reminder of these virtues, drawing from recent cognitive, neuroscientific, and applied findings. In so doing, we identify three important (if not entirely independent) roles supported by forgetting, namely maintenance of a positive and coherent self-image ("Guardian"), facilitation of efficient cognitive function ("Librarian"), and development of a creative and flexible worldview ("Inventor"). Together, these roles depict an expanded understanding of how forgetting provides memory with many of its cardinal virtues.