Scientists have long claimed that we use approximately 10% of our potential memory capacity. How they arrived at this estimation I would really like to know. But aside from that matter is the problem at hand. If the above stated postulate were to be true then why is it that people "forget" so easily. A person experiencing post-hypnotic regression can recall events of a past traumatic experience but they cannot recall what they had for lunch last week Tuesday. Why are some things selectively "forgotten" while other are not? If we HAVE the memory capacity to store it then why not? Why has Mother Nature deemed it necessary to rob us of childhood memories as we grow older? Leaving only a few tantalizing wisps of "The Good Ole Days" to torment us with. Hence I wish to propose a new model of the brain to explain this confusing and in my opinion... "Anti-Natural" phenomenon.

Firstly, we begin with the assumption that we do in fact use 100% of our memory capacity. From birth our memory begins filling up with the sights, sounds, sensations, tastes, etc. Now the brain, being the logical device that it is, will know what is important, what isn't, and what is grey (i.e. not necessarily important at the moment, but can become so later on).

Now consider the typical life-cycle of an "Impact" memory. For a reasonable while after it happens you are able to recall everything about the incident, details, descriptions, scents, smells. But as time passes these details fade. Till one day all we remember is having a good laugh over something or the other. Why does this happen? Simple... room is being made for new memories! Old memories are gradually wiped and faded put to make room for new ones. Hence now, we have forgotten everything we knew as babies, and as we get older the memories keep getting wiped! Of course the brain will tend to deem some memories more important than others hence the brain must have a method of controlling what gets wiped and what stays... a kind of "Importance Comparator."

Phenomena Explained :

Hence... we see why knowledge of certain routine events cannot be recalled under hypnosis. Simply because these memories were of no consequence and were assigned a high priority for wiping by the brain. The failing details of a memory can be attributed to the wiping process... slowly... detail by detail ... a memory is being wiped!

But there are consequences to this model that must be considered. Consider the problems involved in realizing impact memory of immense magnitude. Say a person making an earth shattering discovery... what would happen?

Possible consequences include the overshadowing or "dwarfing" of all other memories in comparison such that the brain will randomly choose a memory that it now sees as being of little importance and assign it for wiping. So a person walking down the street and making an earth-shattering realization may suddenly find that he has forgotten how to walk and BRAM!! down he goes... dragging himself home with this new-found discovery in his mind. We have seen examples of such events occurring throughout history. Take Einstein and his discovery of relativity. We attributed Einstein's disheveled appearance to eccentricity... but what if he had simply forgotten how to groom himself!??

Another consequence of this is overloading of the core memory region resulting in the "stupor" often expressed by individuals receiving dire information. The burst of magnanimous information causes temporary shut down of the essential memory section causing people to collapse or appear "dumbfounded" i.e... no blinking, no speech, no breath, etc.

Other related problems involve such consequences as receiving a blow to the head. This could lead to similar problems, such as misplacement of memories. Important memories may become 'jarred' out of place and forced to overlap others... be them significant or not. Consider an individual receiving a powerful blow to the head. This may lead to the displacement of a significant memory... say bowel control. And this misplaced memory may overlap some other vital memory resulting in temporary amnesia. Hence the individual is now forced to experience a state of stupor and extreme embarrassment... which is often found to be the case in life. Often, the ability to walk properly is lost as well resulting in the individual holding his head and hobbling away from the scene quite unaware as yet of his soiled loins.

Now why do these things happen? Well in accordance with the model proposed here events such as earth-shattering realizations or a physical blow have a greater chance of affecting vital memory areas since 100% of the memory capacity is occupied. If we were to believe the postulate offered by scientists then an event would only have a 10% chance of affecting the individual which is clearly not the case in real life. Shattering news is often accompanied by some reaction whether it is significant or not... be it the loss of an insignificant memory... or be it the temporary misplacement of bladder & bowel control. A physical blow rarely occurs without some repercussion, be it amnesia or be it soiled loins.

In retrospect, the laws of probability dictate simply that the measure of our memory capacity offered by my fellow scientists simply cannot explain the vast occurrence of the potential situations that arise. I have attempted to put forth that which is in my opinion a more realistic model which is in concordance with everyday experiences. Ten percent??? I scoff at you...