Hey there. Welcome to Life Noggin. The brain is a pretty cool organ, but sometimes it can fail us, like when we forget someone 's name or blank on a test.

But how can someone just forget something like that? Well, to start off I want you to imagine what a penny looks like.

You 're probably imagining Abraham Lincoln looking off to the right and that the coin is copper.

But you probably didn't recall the phrase above the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the penny. If you did, congrats.

But the reason we may have not remembered every single aspect of the coin is because frankly, it doesn't matter.

All we need to know is how to distinguish a penny from any other coin, so we only remember the important parts and store them in our long term memory.

All of the small details of any experience, like you watching this video for example, are combined into one event in your brain 's hippocampus.

You are essentially a network of neurons that records the association linked to the memory,

and any of those associations like hearing the name " Blocko " can bring back that memory.

But problems arise when there is more than one memory associated with a given cue.

If you ever met someone who looks like an old friend, it may be difficult to remember this new person 's name,

because that face already has some other meaning to you, and the memories are interfering with each other.

Decay theory states that a memory slowly fades over time if it 's not rehearsed often.

So if you do not frequently think about something, you 'll forget it.

It makes sense, but you also have to be paying attention in the first place if you ever want to recall that information.