Dr Wendy Suzuki, a professor at New York University, has spent her career researching numerous different attributes of cognitive health
A neuroscientist has revealed one surprising reason why your memory might feel worse than it used to – and it has nothing to do with dementia. Dr Wendy Suzuki, a professor at New York University, has spent her career researching numerous different attributes of cognitive health.
In a recent TikTok video, she set the record straight, stressing that significant memory decline is not an ‘inevitable’ part of ageing. However, something known as ‘memory interference’ is a likely symptom of time passing, making it more challenging to remember people’s names or places you’ve visited in the past.
“‘Wendy, makes me feel better about my terrible memory,’ that was a recent request from a friend,” Dr Suzuki said on social media.
“So many people think that memory decline is inevitable and unavoidable as we get older, but I’m here to tell you that significant memory loss is not a normal part of ageing for the most part. ‘But Wendy’, you might say, ‘Why can’t I remember the people or the names of the places as well as I could when I was younger?’
“I’ll tell you why, because you have so much more to remember than you did when you were in high school or college, with your job, with your relationship, with your family. All of that leads to something called ‘memory interference’.”
Memory interference does not support the idea that age and decay always drive memory decline. Instead, it posits that forgetfulness can also be caused by long-term and newly established memories interfering with each other.
This phenomenon has a long history in psychology and can be separated into two categories. The first, known as ‘retroactive interference’, describes an inability to retrieve long-established memories due to the influence of new information.
Meanwhile, ‘proactive interference’ is the exact opposite—it encompasses the idea that past memories interfere with our ability to remember new information. The Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience describes: “One explanation for interference-based forgetting is that it causes increased competition for retrieval between similar memory traces, which encourages forgetting.
“Specifically, when a retrieval cue is associated solely with a stored memory (target), there is a high likelihood that the target memory can be accessed and retrieved with relative efficiency.” In light of this theory, Dr Suzuki added: “Your memory feels worse than when you were younger because you just have so much more information to sort through, to pull up the right answer.
“Did I make you feel better about your memory?” While it’s therefore clear that some forgetfulness is deemed a generally regular aspect of increased life experience, significant memory decline can be a cause for concern.
Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe several conditions that give rise to ongoing cognitive decline. NHS figures suggest that it affects more than 944,000 individuals in the UK.
Besides memory loss, symptoms at its onset can include problems concentrating or following conversations, confusion about time and place, or difficulty performing familiar tasks. Unfortunately, there is no cure for dementia right now, but treatments are available to help alleviate some of its symptoms.
“Because people with dementia may lose the ability to remember events, or not fully understand their environment or situations, it can seem as if they’re not telling the truth or are wilfully ignoring problems,” NHS guidance explains. “As dementia affects a person’s mental abilities, they may find planning and organising difficult. Maintaining their independence may also become a problem.
“A person with dementia will usually need help from friends or relatives, including help with making decisions. The symptoms of dementia usually become worse over time.
“In the late stage of dementia, people will not be able to take care of themselves and may lose their ability to communicate….The number of people with dementia is increasing because people are living longer.
“It is estimated that by 2030, the number of people with dementia in the UK will be more than one million.” Anyone experiencing symptoms of dementia is encouraged to seek advice from a GP.