Charan Ranganath

Here's the signal that I need to focus on. And that's super important for memory because one of the things you see in old age is older people are bad at most memory tests. But it turns out in labs, we kind of overestimate that. And the reason we overestimate it is we're giving them a test, which is something hard. It requires a lot of focus, and it's not something they do every day. But

Karen Campbell and Lynn Hasher, these great cognitive psychologists, did this cool experiment where they had a bunch of other stuff that people were supposed to ignore in this memory task where they're studying a bunch of things. They're trying to memorize a bunch of stuff, but there's stuff going on they're supposed to ignore.

Karen Campbell and Lynn Hasher, these great cognitive psychologists, did this cool experiment where they had a bunch of other stuff that people were supposed to ignore in this memory task where they're studying a bunch of things. They're trying to memorize a bunch of stuff, but there's stuff going on they're supposed to ignore.

Karen Campbell and Lynn Hasher, these great cognitive psychologists, did this cool experiment where they had a bunch of other stuff that people were supposed to ignore in this memory task where they're studying a bunch of things. They're trying to memorize a bunch of stuff, but there's stuff going on they're supposed to ignore.

The older people were just as good as the younger people at remembering the stuff they were supposed to ignore. They were just bad at the stuff that they were supposed to pay attention to.

The older people were just as good as the younger people at remembering the stuff they were supposed to ignore. They were just bad at the stuff that they were supposed to pay attention to.

The older people were just as good as the younger people at remembering the stuff they were supposed to ignore. They were just bad at the stuff that they were supposed to pay attention to.

They were bad at remembering the stuff that they were supposed to remember, but they were just as good as the younger people, maybe even better, but definitely as good as the younger people at remembering the things that they weren't supposed to pay attention to.

They were bad at remembering the stuff that they were supposed to remember, but they were just as good as the younger people, maybe even better, but definitely as good as the younger people at remembering the things that they weren't supposed to pay attention to.

They were bad at remembering the stuff that they were supposed to remember, but they were just as good as the younger people, maybe even better, but definitely as good as the younger people at remembering the things that they weren't supposed to pay attention to.

Yeah. Well, OK. I should say the benefit of curiosity on memory is intact in older people. I got that wrong. I don't know. Matthias could tell me if I just email him at a break or something. But I don't know if curiosity itself is as high in older adults, self-reported or –

Yeah. Well, OK. I should say the benefit of curiosity on memory is intact in older people. I got that wrong. I don't know. Matthias could tell me if I just email him at a break or something. But I don't know if curiosity itself is as high in older adults, self-reported or –

Yeah. Well, OK. I should say the benefit of curiosity on memory is intact in older people. I got that wrong. I don't know. Matthias could tell me if I just email him at a break or something. But I don't know if curiosity itself is as high in older adults, self-reported or –

Don't know, but I can say two things to this. One is that definitely there's a lot of work on media multitasking. And the short answer is bad for memory.

Don't know, but I can say two things to this. One is that definitely there's a lot of work on media multitasking. And the short answer is bad for memory.

Don't know, but I can say two things to this. One is that definitely there's a lot of work on media multitasking. And the short answer is bad for memory.

Well, media multitasking is bad for memory. The tech thing is a super fascinating area in general. It's really how we interact with the tech that's bad. But If you're an older adult, your frontal function is not going to be as good. You will be more distractible. You will be more likely to go off course.

Well, media multitasking is bad for memory. The tech thing is a super fascinating area in general. It's really how we interact with the tech that's bad. But If you're an older adult, your frontal function is not going to be as good. You will be more distractible. You will be more likely to go off course.

Well, media multitasking is bad for memory. The tech thing is a super fascinating area in general. It's really how we interact with the tech that's bad. But If you're an older adult, your frontal function is not going to be as good. You will be more distractible. You will be more likely to go off course.

And so that scrolling is going to be more potent because, as you pointed out, the algorithms are all designed to suck up our attention. So psychologist Herb Simon came up with this beautiful term called the attention economy, right? Mm-hmm. And so the idea is that the more information that you have in front of you, the more impoverished you are in terms of your attention.