Looks like I'm going to be the guy to shout "correlation is not causation" today.
What if older brains decide to filter more, store less and this is reflected in the brainwave patterns? A young brain might go "accept accept accept accept...." whereas an older brain might go "accept reject reject accept reject...". I'm pretty happy about having forgotten a lot of stuff.
After all, the older you get, the more you have to throw out to accommodate new memories. And it's mostly trash. So why remember it over sweet youth?
> To confirm the finding, though, researchers will have to show that it's possible to cause memory problems in a young brain by disrupting these rhythms, Seibt says.
To be fair, the article does say this, albeit without discussing it very much.
The other correlation/causation error is the idea that the desynchronization of the waves is a cause of the issue rather than a symptom. It's a bit like listening to a car's engine and saying that cars that go slowly are doing so because their engines are emitting a low-pitched sound instead of a higher-pitched one.
It might be harder for older brains to forget the right stuff.
Wanting to remember something and remembering something isn't as much of a conscious choice as we would like.
I have noticed that my recall speed is exponential in the quality of sleep and exercise. If I work out, have a great sleep (post exercise sauna), I am sharp. If I trash myself, I have a noticeable 500ms+ access latency. Not for concepts, but for words. Words always take longer.
What if older brains decide to filter more, store less and this is reflected in the brainwave patterns? A young brain might go "accept accept accept accept...." whereas an older brain might go "accept reject reject accept reject...". I'm pretty happy about having forgotten a lot of stuff.
After all, the older you get, the more you have to throw out to accommodate new memories. And it's mostly trash. So why remember it over sweet youth?