Eric Kandel (2006) has revealed that the consolidation of memory at the level of the nucleus is a bipolar process: chemical agents exist in our cells that can either potentiate or suppress memory. Having a double-ended system prevents extremes: remembering everything or remembering nothing. As a child we are rewarded for remembering everything we are taught in school under the assumption that all knowledge is good. But what happens if the knowledge is tainted such as that the black slaves on plantations enjoyed being supported by the white slave owners, that the Holocaust was a fabrication, that the recent election in the United States was rigged, that vaccines produce massive side-effects, that drinking Clorox is an effective way to kill Covid-19, and so on. It is instructive that Albert Einstein was not a great student (i.e., did not like to memorize things and he had difficulty in his second language, French, which he needed to complete his university entrance exams, Strauss 2016) yet his ability to zero-in on the important data while excluding nonsense is what made him an extraordinary scientist. Ergo, the management of one’s memory may be as important as having a good memory.
References
Kandel ER (2006) In Search of Memory. The Emergence of a New Science of Mind. W.W. Norton & Company Inc., New York.
Strauss V (2016) Was Albert Einstein really a bad student who failed math? The Washington Post, Feb.
Yes, if you look into the cognitive psychology of long-term memory you can see that there are many factors that affect memories, they are not all or nothing by any means. For example, memories are easier recalled in the same context as they were first learned (e.g. Godden & Baddeley, 1975), and can easily be distorted by subsequent information (e.g. Loftus et al) or by prior knowledge. What you are speaking, though, I think relates more to skilled use of knowledge, what we might call higher-order thinking skills (e.g. analysis) in contrast to factual recall. However, the distinction between the two is not so clear cut, as greater knowledge improves analytical skills.
Very interesting question, thanks for raising it Edward J Tehovnik :)
Thomas Ryan (MIT), and others talked about this matter, and they even go further by stating that they found that memory (offline consciousness) don't reside in the brain. I however see the entire consciousness reside in extra physical dimensions; kindly see the following video: https://youtu.be/I1G3Jx-Q1YY
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