Why are people in their 30s and 40s experiencing increased memory problems?

People in their 30s and 40s are reporting an unprecedented wave of memory problems. Photo / 123RF

By RNZ

Could our reliance on technology and the sheer amount of information we absorb everyday be making us more forgetful?

According to a recent article in the Boston Globe, people in their 30s and 40s are reporting an unprecedented wave of memory problems.

Professor Cliff Abraham, who teaches psychology at the University of Otago and is co-lead of the Aotearoa Brain Project and co-director of Brain Research NZ, told RNZ’s Sunday Morning it comes as no surprise.

“If we think about how memories [are] formed in the first place and the things that interfere with good memory or good learning and memory retention in terms of, well, a whole variety of issues, including distractions, it would not be surprising to find that people are more sensitive to day-to-day memory issues than they were before.”

While the exact cause has not been pinpointed, there’s much more information and distractions coming in than ever before, Abraham said.

The brain can store a lot of information, but it is a question of how much is coming in all at once or at one point in time, he added.

“When you’re trying to process a lot of information, more or less simultaneously, it will interfere with how you can kind of get into those networks that are storing the information you’re trying to and making it hard to retrieve.”

Abraham said we tend to think of memory as being some kind of magical automatic process we don’t have to kind of work with, but in fact, it does take some cognitive effort to really store information well.

“Memories are best stored and retained, what we call consolidated, by several principles. One is paying attention to the information. Another one is repeating that information in different ways and processing that information.

“And if you don’t spend the time to do that, then you won’t remember the name of the person you’ve just been introduced to, you won’t remember where you’ve parked your car, and so forth.”

There are other factors too, such as mental health issues like anxiety and depression, drug use, stress, and even being “hyper-busy” can have significant impacts on brain function, he said.

Regarding an increase in the use of technology, Abraham said periods when you’re not actively using your brain – like time spent watching TV – are “probably not good”.

“The brain likes to be used, and lots of helpful neurochemicals are released. If you’re just interacting with your TV screen, that doesn’t produce the same effects.”

- RNZ