You walk into a room and suddenly draw a blank. Why did I come in here? Good news — that’s NOT a senior moment.

You walk into a room. But you suddenly draw a blank.

Wait. Why did I come in here?

I’ve got good news. It’s not just you. And it’s not even a senior moment. It’s the doorway.

A friend just sent me an e-mail about this phenomenon. And you know me. I always double-check these things. (As I mentioned last week, the e-mail going around about taking an aspirin at bedtime to prevent an early morning heart attack is nonsense.)

But this one is authentic.

A University of Notre Dame psychology professor conducted three experiments. Each one was a little involved, so I’ll spare you the details. But all three proved his theory…

A doorway represents an “event boundary.” When you cross that boundary, your mind offers up a clean slate for the room you enter. Meanwhile, your mind compartmentalizes a plan you made in another room.

That’s why you forget that you walked into the kitchen looking for your glasses.

And I’ll bet you’ve done this too… When you can’t remember why you went to the kitchen, you return to the living room. That’s where your mind hatched the idea to look for your glasses.

And that’s exactly the right thing to do. Previous research shows that you retrieve information best in the environment where it originated.

And now for the best part… The UND professor conducted his experiments with college students. So your minor forgetfulness is NOT a senior moment. It’s a human moment.

Watch those doorways. It’s all their fault!

Sources:
“Walking through doorways causes forgetting, new research shows” Susan Guibert, Notre Dame News, 11/16/11, news.nd.edu