A Conversation for Ask h2g2

Are you forgetful?

Post 21

Witty Moniker

I've ground the coffee beans, put them in the coffee maker and turned it on.

Forgot to add water.

I blame that on not having had a cup of coffee yet. smiley - silly


Are you forgetful?

Post 22

Rod

... No but I have refilled the (real) coffee caddy then filled it with just-off-the-boil water


Are you forgetful?

Post 23

Cheerful Dragon

A while ago somebody asked if there was a way to prevent the phenomenon of forgetting why you went into a room. The answer was, 'Yes, forget to go into the room.' There was one occasion a few years ago when I got up to fetch something. In the time it took me to cross the room (a distance of less than 12 feet) I'd forgotten what I'd got up for.smiley - erm


Are you forgetful?

Post 24

swl

Labradors do that all the time.


Are you forgetful?

Post 25

quotes

>>A while ago somebody asked if there was a way to prevent the phenomenon of forgetting why you went into a room. The answer was, 'Yes, forget to go into the room.' There was one occasion a few years ago when I got up to fetch something. In the time it took me to cross the room (a distance of less than 12 feet) I'd forgotten what I'd got up for.

A theory is that this is to do with "event boundaries"
http://theweek.com/article/index/221765/why-does-entering-a-room-make-you-forget-things

However, I experience a more up-to-date version of this. I click on Google to check something and then forget what it was I wanted to check, which is a distance of zero feet and just fractions of a second in time.

This study suggests visualisation may help:
http://www.sacramentopsychology.com/index.php/articleslayout/107-senior-issues/466-why-we-forget-things-and-what-we-can-do-about-it.html


Are you forgetful?

Post 26

AlwaysLunchtimeSomewhere - "at ALS's restaurant" (thanks DG!)


>>> "is there was a way to prevent the phenomenon of forgetting why you went into a room"


yes - 'talk to yourself'!


aural memory operates independently / in parallel and has a reasonable short-term persistence - long enough for you still to hear what you said to yourself before you went into the room

do you often get to the car / bike / bus and can't remember if you just locked the front door / turned off the cat / etc? Next time, try muttering a selected phrase as you lock the door, etc - the phrase should be something simple you've chosen to relate to the associated process


...so 'talking to yourself' works, but of course all you've achieved is to swap one worrying trait for another! smiley - biggrin


Are you forgetful?

Post 27

Robyn Hoode - Navigator. Now with added Studnet status!

My boyfriend is such a worrier and so unable to be conscious of what he's doing that he rattles his front door twice to make sure it's locked, walks away, then goes back for a third. It's slightly obsessive.

Better than leaving it open though.


Are you forgetful?

Post 28

swl

I'm kind of the same with locking the car. I blame those key fob button-thingys.


Are you forgetful?

Post 29

Lanzababy - Guide Editor

smiley - headhurts

This thread must be causing an effect. I just made my coffee, stood right by the machine while it blooped. Then realised that I'd forgotten to put the filter paper in. smiley - rolleyes

This wouldn't have mattered, apart from the mess, but I'd used the last of my water. smiley - wah


Are you forgetful?

Post 30

Geggs

I've just found a thread on my PS where fluffykerfuffle reminded me about this thread.

Can't remember why now.

Oh well, it'll come back to me.


Geggs


Are you forgetful?

Post 31

Pink Paisley

Ummmmm?


Are you forgetful?

Post 32

Pink Paisley

Oh yes.

I have a 'Box Of Four Things' that I keep at home. It contains my diary, work phone, fountain pen and ID cards. I was fed up with getting to work short of one of these vital items for the day.

I pick up the box when I am leaving home and carry it to work as a whole. I leave the box on my desk through the day and replace the four things when I leave. I get home and put them in the same place every evening.

That doesn't prevent the disaster I had a couple of weeks ago when I put it down on my way out of the house to put a jacket on and forgot to pick it up again. I got to work without anything.

PP


Are you forgetful?

Post 33

Kerr_Avon - hunting stray apostrophes and gutting poorly parsed sentences

If my neighbours were up early enough to see me leave in the mornings, they'd probably think I was some sort of pervert - every day they'd see me shut the door, then grab both my thighs and then my right buttock.

If they had bat ears they'd also hear me mutter 'keys, phone, wallet'.

smiley - ale


Are you forgetful?

Post 34

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

"I just made my coffee, stood right by the machine while it blooped. Then realised that I'd forgotten to put the filter paper in. This wouldn't have mattered, apart from the mess, but I'd used the last of my water" [Lanzababy]

I don't understand the problem. Coffee will brew fine whether you use filter paper or not. The size of the mess is incidental. You should still be able to drink the coffee, so being out of water is irrelevant until your next cup. Maybe your coffee is too strong, so put a little more milk in. Does that help?smiley - smiley


Are you forgetful?

Post 35

Witty Moniker

I don't know about Lanza's coffee maker, but mine does not funnel the water/coffee properly into the carafe if a filter is not in place. The liquid flows all over the counter. How do I know this? smiley - blush


Are you forgetful?

Post 36

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

Different coffeemakers seem to work differently. That's why I asked.


Are you forgetful?

Post 37

Lanzababy - Guide Editor

I managed to save enough smiley - coffee to drink, the mess was what gave me the clue that I'd missed something vital, and I was able to salvage some. smiley - biggrin

So, you're both correct smiley - laugh

I was reminded by the four things in a box story, that if I had to take urgent papers and so on to work with me, I would put them across the threshold, next to brief case/laptop bag. Many is the time I have sleepily stepped over both on my way out the door. smiley - zzz


Are you forgetful?

Post 38

quotes

Thinking about the way some think we forget things due to the 'event boundary' as we walk through doors, I decided to try to remember something as I walked through a certain door, and it worked. In fact, I didn't even walk through the door, I just imagined it; very much like the 'loci' method of memory storage.


Are you forgetful?

Post 39

Pink Paisley



Me too. To avoid this I have to lean stuff against the door so that I have to move it to get out. Even that's not foolproof though.

Actually, it's all a bit of a trial sometimes.

PP


Are you forgetful?

Post 40

Icy North

It's the same with me too. Eventually I decided to put the papers actually *inside* the briefcase.

Sadly, when I came to leave the house, something inside me made me extricate the foreign bodies from my case and leave them propped beside the door.


Key: Complain about this post