When It Comes to Forgetfulness...Forget About It!

I angered my wife the other evening when I forgot some very basic tasks she asked me to do. Unfortunately for her, I was watching football at the time she made her request. It's not that I didn't have every intention of complying with her wishes, quite the contrary. I paid close attention to every word she said as she was getting ready to leave. However, I got caught up in the game and when she came home to find that I hadn't done what I was supposed to do, I felt a little like a quarterback who lines up under a guard instead of a center. I was embarrassed and a little shocked at my own forgetfulness. How could I be so stupid?

Well, it seems science has come to my rescue...sort of. A recent study at Stanford indicates that the less work the cerebral cortex has to do (the part of the brain that remembers stuff) the more it can focus on other tasks. Think of it like RAM in a computer. The fewer files and programs you have open, the more quickly and efficiently your PC works. It's the same with the brain.
By eliminating my wife's requests from my memory, my brain was actually becoming more efficient for what it considered the highest priority: football.

The problem is that even if you accept this premise, it doesn't necessarily mean your parole from the doghouse will be granted. In fact, one could argue the opposite case in support of my wife: a truly loving and considerate husband would've given her task requests highest priority and subjected football to the brain's censoring processes. And therein lies the age-old dilemma: wife vs football. If only science could figure that one out, I might not be sleeping on the couch....