Event Boundary: through the doorway

Have you ever entered a room to get or do something and not been able to remember why you are there? Well researches at Notre Dame (not entirely reliable, I know!) have discovered why that is:

Entering or exiting through a doorway serves as an ‘event boundary’ in the mind, which separates episodes of activity and files them away. Recalling the decision or activity that was made in a different room is difficult because it has been compartmentalized.


An event boundary! Makes perfect sense.


Take for example the $1 wire candle holder. I received this candle holder (or possibly bought it myself) as a gift. They were at the dollar store some 10 years ago. I recently ran across it with a candle melted into the wire and thought, "I will just toss it out! It's not worth fussing over. I have a dozen candle holders, and I never use this one--cute though it may be." But then, a little idea crept into my mind that I could heat the whole thing briefly in a pan of water and detach the holder from the candle. Even as I thought this, I knew it was a bad idea. But, I heated up a pan of water, placed the $1 candle holder in it, and headed back upstairs to quickly finish something I had been doing and then hurry back down--knowing as I went, that I would never remember to come back down to retrieve it before it boiled over. Sure enough, some time later, I heard a sizzling noise and flew downstairs to find wax and water all over my somewhat-new glass-top stove. An hour later, I had it mostly cleaned up.


Doorways can be treacherous. Dozens of these events occur every day, granted, not all of them so disastrous.


PS: I just went in search of said candle holder to take a picture so you could see how lovely it is but how it may not be totally worth an hour clean-up. But I could not find it. And I almost forgot that I was in mid post!