Research report 2006 - Max Planck Institute for Human Development

Can forgetting be helpful?

Authors
Gaissmaier, Wolfgang
Departments

Adaptives Verhalten und Kognition (Gigerenzer) (Prof. Dr. Gerd Gigerenzer)
MPI für Bildungsforschung, Berlin

Summary
Cognitive limitations, such as forgetting, are often regarded as severe liability of the human mind. In contrast to that view, the article argues that these limitations are integral to the proper functioning of human thought. To understand when and why cognitive limitations can be helpful, researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development take an ecological perspective and argue the success of human behavior depends on the interplay between the human mind and the environment.

For the full text, see the German version.

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