Prof. Charan Ranganath

When I ask people about their memory, 90% of them say that they're terrible at memory or they have memory problems.

Well, what I would say is this.

First of all, forgetting is the default.

What I mean by that is you experience all this stuff.

At this moment, you're getting a barrage of information.

A massive amount of that information is lost within just an hour of learning.

And so memory, if you want to take a cheesy analogy, memory is basically packing for the journey of life.

The brain is saying, okay, I got to pack some stuff.

What am I going to pack with me based on what I think I'll need in the future, right?

Exactly.

Like imagine if you remembered every temporary password you had, right?

Like if your brain was just hoarding memories nonstop.

where I put my keys, where I put my phone.

I lose track of conversations.

You know, I actually got contact lenses because I kept misplacing my glasses.

Putting your keys in the same place for one thing all the time makes it a lot easier.

So building that habit in.

I'm thinking to myself, why am I in this kitchen?

And so I'll see some chocolate.

I'll eat it.