Neuroscientists, and people in general, have noticed a disturbing phenomena in that many folks have trouble recalling what they did during the pandemic. It’s not widespread amnesia, but individual, day-to-day things like who came to Christmas dinner last year or whether you took your books back to the library. It can’t be blamed on COVID-19 specifically, because this lack of memory can occur before infection and in people who never caught the disease.
Speculation from brain researchers tells us that two factors will do this: monotony and stress. Many people went home and stayed there, working online, taking classes from home, or supervising children 24/7 (or all three). Long-term memories are formed by the outlines of how different an event is from life around it. When every day is the same, it’s difficult to form new memories. Then there was the stress of lifestyle changes, new safety protocols, social upheavals, and fear of the disease. This reminds me of what’s colloquially known as “mommy brain” or “widow brain,” in which focusing on new priorities makes previously-important parts of your life fade into oblivion.
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Read about the factors that may contribute to the impairment of making new memories during the pandemic, whether it’s just inconsequential forgetting or full-blown brain fog, at the Walrus. -via Damn Interesting
Source: neatorama