It is still too early to scientifically compare the memory of individuals before and after the Covid-19 pandemic. However, many people already feel that their memory is failing them. However, what we know about how memory works can provide some clues to explain this failure.
France is currently in confinement at least until December 1, 2020, for the second time since the start of the pandemic . However, a lot of things were said at the end of the first confinement. Let us cite, for example, the benefit of having a pet for the mental health of confined people. Let's also mention the many people who took advantage of this moment to ask themselves existential questions. According to a BBC Future article published on November 16, 2020, confinement could also harm our memory. It is now too early to make comparisons in terms of memory before and after the pandemic. Nevertheless, the British daily explains that many people report seeing an alteration in their memory.
Let's first mention the fact that isolation and the reduction of our social interactions affect the functioning of our brain. In confinement, it is no longer possible to meet over coffee or in the evening with friends and other colleagues. However, the conversations taking place during these moments seem innocuous, but in reality have a positive effect. Indeed, they allow us to repeat our memories and consolidate our episodic memory . In the absence of these conversations, our memory may therefore tend to fail.
Some people try to compensate for this lack of social interaction by using new technologies . If these make it possible to continue to communicate, the conversations are nevertheless different. It is actually rarer than online, people talk about things without much interest. Thus, we forget the details more easily. In addition, the lack of social interaction is accompanied by anxiety in many cases.
You should know that confinement prevents individuals from using landmarks to create mnemonic devices . Usually, trips to work or on the street punctuate our days and associate our memories with different places. However, staying at home exposes us to a constantly identical spatial framework , regardless of the type of activity practiced (teleworking, etc.).
Let's also mention fatigue, aggravating our ability to manufacture these mnemonic devices. The efforts of concentration that work requires can also aggravate fatigue. In addition, more and more people say they suffer from insomnia since the start of the pandemic.
In a study published in April 2020, neurologist Catherine Loveday from the University of Westminster (UK) further suggested that a sedentary lifestyle helps influence memory . By constantly staying at home, we use our hippocampus less. However, this part of the brain plays an important role in memory and spatial navigation.
