Why we forget and how to.., p.1
Why We Forget and How to Remember Better, page 1
Advance Praise for Why We Forget and How to Remember Better
“In Why We Forget and How to Remember Better, memory experts Andrew Budson and Elizabeth Kensinger provide readers with a practical and clearly explained masterclass on how memory works and how to keep it working well as we age. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand and maximize their memory functions.”
—Wendy Suzuki, PhD, Professor of Neural Science and Psychology, New York University and internationally bestselling author of Healthy Brain, Happy Life and Good Anxiety
“In this highly readable book, two authorities on the science of memory and the brain unpack everything you could want to know about memory and memory disorders. You will find surprising answers here to fascinating puzzles—for example, why we form false memories, why someone with Alzheimer’s disease remembers how to play the piano but forgets the names of family members, how to distinguish between memory decline due to normal aging and disorders of memory, and why sleep is so important for memory. In addition, the authors describe evidence-based ways to remember better and to defend against false memories.”
—Ellen Winner, PhD, Professor Emerita at Boston College and author of the bestselling book How Art Works: A Psychological Exploration
“Budson and Kensinger have done a marvelous job creating an accessible summary of the wide-ranging field of memory research. A perfect place to start for anyone interested in understanding this fundamental human capacity.”
—Joshua Foer, BA, Author of the bestselling book Moonwalking with Einstein
“This book delivers on all fronts. Written by two of the most eminent memory scientists in the world, the book draws in the reader immediately—engaging both the practitioners of the science of memory as well as those who are new to memory research. The reader is presented with many relatable, everyday examples and practical tips, and with concrete steps that unfold and explain complex theories of memory and forgetting. The authors cover a wide range of representative phenomena about when memory works and when it fails. The book delves into the neuroscience of memory and effects of aging at one end, strategies for improving memory at the other, and many key topics in between. I want this book for my memory course, and for my family and friends who are curious about how memory works.”
—Suparna Rajaram, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science at Stony Brook University
“Everyone knows how memory works, we have our own experiences of remembering and forgetting to go on. But the science of memory, as Budson and Kensinger engagingly recount, teaches us so much more—how it really works and how it doesn’t. And how this scientifically grounded knowledge enriches our understanding of our own minds.”
—Ken Paller, PhD, Padilla Chair and Director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Program at Northwestern University
Why We Forget and How to Remember Better
The Science Behind Memory
ANDREW E. BUDSON, MD
Neurology Service, Section of Cognitive & Behavioral Neurology, & Center for Translational Cognitive Neuroscience, Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System
Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center & Department of Neurology
Boston University School of Medicine
Division of Cognitive & Behavioral Neurology
Department of Neurology
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA
Boston Center for Memory
Newton, MA
ELIZABETH A. KENSINGER, PhD
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
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© Oxford University Press 2023
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You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Budson, Andrew E., author. | Kensinger, Elizabeth A., author.
Title: Why we forget and how to remember better : the science behind memory /
Andrew E. Budson, M.D., Elizabeth A. Kensinger, Ph.D.
Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2023] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022027375 (print) | LCCN 2022027376 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780197607732 (hardback) | ISBN 9780197607756 (epub) |
ISBN 9780197607763 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Memory—Popular works. | Memory—Physiological
aspects—Popular works. | Brain—Localization of functions—Popular works.
Classification: LCC QP406 .B83 2023 (print) | LCC QP406 (ebook) |
DDC 612.8/23312—dc23/eng/20220720
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022027375
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022027376
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197607732.001.0001
This material is not intended to be, and should not be considered, a substitute for medical or other professional advice. Treatment for the conditions described in this material is highly dependent on the individual circumstances. And, while this material is designed to offer accurate information with respect to the subject matter covered and to be current as of the time it was written, research and knowledge about medical and health issues is constantly evolving and dose schedules for medications are being revised continually, with new side effects recognized and accounted for regularly. Readers must therefore always check the product information and clinical procedures with the most up-to-date published product information and data sheets provided by the manufacturers and the most recent codes of conduct and safety regulation. The publisher and the authors make no representations or warranties to readers, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of this material. Without limiting the foregoing, the publisher and the authors make no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or efficacy of the drug dosages mentioned in the material. The authors and the publisher do not accept, and expressly disclaim, any responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk that may be claimed or incurred as a consequence of the use and/or application of any of the contents of this material.
Contents
Foreword by Daniel L. Schacter
Preface
Part 1: All the ways to remember
1.Memory is not one thing
2.Procedural memory: Muscle memory
3.Working memory: Keep it in mind
4.Episodic memory: Travel back in time
5.Semantic memory: What you know
6.Collective memory: What we remember together
Part 2: Making memories
7.Do you need to try to remember?
8.Get it into your memory—and keep it there
9.Retrieve that memory
10.Associate information
11.Control what you forget and remember
12.Are you sure that’s not a false memory?
Part 3: When there is too little memory—or too much
13.Just normal aging—or is it Alzheimer’s disease?
14.What else can go wrong with your memory?
15.Post-traumatic stress disorder: When you can’t forget
16.Those who remember everything
Part 4: Do the right things
17.Exercise: The elixir of life
18.Nutrition: You are what you eat
19.This is your brain on alcohol, cannabis, and drugs
20.Sleep well
21.Activity, attitude, music, mindfulness, and brain training
Part 5: Techniques to remember better
22.Memory aids
23.Basic strategies
24.Remember names
25.Advanced strategies and mnemonics
Afterword
Tips to remember better
Appendix: Medications that can impair memory
References
About the authors
Index
Foreword
In Christopher Nolan’s gripping 2000 film Memento, protagonist Leonard Shelby seeks to find the man who he believes murdered his wife during a violent home invasion. Shelby’s search is hampered by a head injury he suffered during the attack that resulted in a loss of his ability to remember ongoing events, making him dependent on handwritten notes, photographs, and even tattooed messages to himself in order to conduct the manhunt. Part of the film’s genius is that Nolan presents the main plot by showing scenes in backwards order, so that the audience’s experience is similar to Leonard’s: Events unfold, but we have no idea what happened in the past t hat led to the present moment, requiring us to try to piece together the identity, role, and motives of the people we encounter.
Fortunately, watching Memento is about as close as most of us will ever come to experiencing life with a profound and unrelenting memory impairment. As someone who has spent his entire career studying memory, one of the reasons why I find Memento so compelling is that the film helps us to appreciate the enormous role that memory plays in our everyday lives, which we are liable to take for granted given how seamlessly our memory systems often work. Often—but not always. And that is why Andrew Budson and Elizabeth Kensinger’s new book is so valuable. Memory can fail us in a variety of ways, with consequences ranging from mildly annoying to life-changing. If we can’t recall the name of the actor who played Leonard even though we saw Memento and can picture the actor, we may be frustrated, but not much harm is done (the actor’s name: Guy Pearce). Yet it is an entirely different matter if we forget to take an essential medication, can’t recall information that is necessary to perform well on an exam, or incorrectly identify an innocent person as the perpetrator of a crime.
Psychologists and neuroscientists have built an impressive body of knowledge regarding the nature of remembering and forgetting, especially during the past few decades, and this scientific knowledge is essential for understanding how to combat the assortment of memory failures that can plague us. Budson and Kensinger are intimately familiar with this body of knowledge, and both of them have carried out research that has helped to expand our understanding of memory. Equally important, both have observed first-hand the everyday consequences of clinically significant forgetting. As a neurologist with expertise in Alzheimer’s disease and other kinds of age-related memory impairments, Budson has seen up close what kinds of disruptions these impairments can cause in daily life. Kensinger is a psychologist who has worked with the most famous case of memory loss known to science—Henry Molaison, referred to in the research literature by the initials H.M. The forgetting that Henry experienced after surgical removal of brain regions that are now known to be essential for memory was so pervasive that he became the gold standard for memory impairment in the scientific literature, and likely a model for Leonard Shelby’s character in Memento.
Building on their combined experiences, Budson and Kensinger are not only able to offer practical advice on how to combat various kinds of forgetting, but they also explain in easy-to-understand language why these lapses occur. By reading this book, you will come to see that some—perhaps many—of the ideas you had about memory are incomplete or flat-out wrong. You will see that memory is not a single thing, but instead composed of several distinct systems, each associated with a particular brain network. You will learn research-based strategies for making new memories and studying more effectively. You will gain insight into how emotion, exercise, sleep, and diet impact remembering and forgetting. You will become familiar with the differences between normal age-related forgetting and forgetting that results from Alzheimer’s disease, and you’ll understand why you should never tell anyone with Alzheimer’s disease something that isn’t true. You’ll come to appreciate that forgetting isn’t always a negative—we reap some significant benefits from forgetting.
You will also learn about one of the more fascinating aspects of memory, something that scientists have only come to fully appreciate in recent years, and an idea that my colleagues and I have worked on intensively: Memory isn’t just about recalling the past; it also plays a crucial role in allowing us to imagine and plan for the future. This important function also underscores that memory is not simply a literal replay of past experiences; it is a far more dynamic constructive process that supports numerous cognitive functions. Memory’s role in supporting these functions—ranging from planning to problem-solving to creative thinking—requires flexible processing; that is, the ability to use past experiences in new ways and in novel contexts. Memory is well suited to such tasks, but that same flexibility may also contribute to errors and distortions in remembering. As Budson and Kensinger discuss, these and other complexities of memory are intriguing and sometimes surprising, but researchers are studying them and are making progress in understanding their nature and basis.
Attempting to describe his strange mental condition to others, Leonard Shelby explained that although he could recall past experiences from before his head injury, he could not make new memories. “Everything fades,” he mused. Alas, we are all susceptible to fading of memory over time, albeit to a much lesser degree than Leonard was. Understanding why it happens, and how to reduce or even stop forgetting when it interferes with our ability to perform everyday tasks, constitute important steps toward becoming a good steward of your own memory. Budson and Kensinger are just the right guides to take you on that journey.
Daniel L. Schacter, PhD
William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Psychology, Harvard University
Author of The Seven Sins of Memory, Updated Edition: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers (2021)
Newton, Massachusetts
January 2022
Preface
If you’re like most people, you probably think you have a good, basic idea about how your memory works. After all, you use it daily to remember everything from your favorite childhood memory to last night’s dinner—and all the “yesterdays” in between. You also use it to remember facts, like who Cleopatra and Harriet Tubman were, and what happened on July 4, 1776. And, of course, you use your memory when you practice piano scales and type on your phone with your thumbs without looking at the letters. So, if we asked you some basic questions about how memory works, your answers might include:
• My memory works like a video recorder; I record the information through my eyes and ears and then play the recording back in my head when I want to remember something.
• Memory evolved to remember information verbatim.
• When we forget things, it is a weakness of our memory system.
• When someone has amnesia, they typically cannot recall their name or identity.
• If someone can remember their childhood in vivid detail, they cannot be suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
• If one can play a musical instrument from memory without sheet music—and play it perfectly—they don’t have dementia.
• When preparing for an exam, highlighting and re-reading important information is the best method of studying.
• Computerized brain-training games are an effective way to keep my memory strong for everyday activities.
Right? What if we told you that you’re wrong? What if we told you that every one of those statements is completely wrong?
Don’t worry if you were wrong; you’re in good company. In 2011 the researchers Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris found that most people they surveyed provided incorrect answers to questions like these.1 It turns out that many aspects of our memories—and what happens to them when they break down—are simply not intuitive. Misunderstandings about memory can lead us to accept as true information that might really be false! That’s one reason why distortions of memory—and outright false memories—occur so frequently even in perfectly healthy individuals.
Why Now?
Over the past 25 years, the fields of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience have revealed much about how memory works. We can now answer questions such as:
• Why did memory evolve? (Hint: It isn’t simply to remember things.)
• How reliable is eyewitness testimony—and what influences its reliability?
• Why do false memories occur so commonly?
• How can a person with Alzheimer’s disease remember how to play the piano but not their grandchildren’s names (or even that they have any children)?
• What are the diets, physical exercises, and mental activities that have been scientifically proven to help keep your memory strong? (Hint: There are lifestyle changes anyone can make, and they don’t need to cost a thing.)
• What are the most effective—and experimentally proven—ways to study for an exam?
• And how can you better remember daily information such as the name of the person you just met and where you parked your car?
