For those of us that forget the car keys or their neighbour's name, here's some good news. A new review paper published in the journal Neuron finds that our brains are purposefully working to forget less useful information in order to make room for more valuable data.

Researchers at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research studied the literature on remembering, also known as persistence, and newer research on forgetting, also called transience. There's an increased interest in studying the mechanisms that actively promote the brain to forget, the researchers said, showing that forgetting is as key to our memory apparatus as remembering.

"It’s important that the brain forgets irrelevant details and instead focuses on the stuff that’s going to help make decisions in the real world," said co-author Blake Richards, an associate fellow in the Learning in Machines & Brains program.

The researchers suggest how the interaction between remembering and forgetting in the brain allows us to make more intelligent decisions based on memory. When we let go of outdated information, we can adapt to new situations. By forgetting the older and potentially misleading information, we're more easily able to manoeuvre our way through changing environments.