Brian Ler on WNYC.

One of the mysteries of life is our relationship with our memories, right?

We think we remember things worse as we age.

We associate loss of memory with disease, fairly or not. It's become an issue in politics now, too, with questions about Trump's

and Biden's memories. Did Trump really forget that Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley are not the same

person, as one of his campaign speeches seem to suggest.

Well, a new book by a University of California psychology and neuroscience professor

suggests we may be thinking about our own memories in some of the wrong ways,

and we might be happier with a little attitude adjustment toward what we remember and what we forget. The book is called

Why We Remember, Unlocking Memories Power to Hold On to What Matters by Sharon Ranganath,

who is a UC Davis professor of psychology and neuroscience. Professor Ranganov, thanks very much for

coming on. Welcome to WNYC.

Thank you. Thank you. It was very exciting. I'm actually now jonesing for a WNYC

hoodie or cat. Ah, maybe we can work something out. So listeners, anything you've ever wanted

to ask an expert on memory, but never had one over for dinner, now is is your chance text or give us a call at 212

433 WNYC and that's obviously our on airline we're never going to ask you for money on the air

212 433-9692 if you have a question about memory so you you're right that instead of asking why do we forget,

we should be asking, why do we remember? So I'll bite. Why do we remember? Well, memory is at

heart about the present and the future. It's not about the past. And so as a result, our brains are extraordinarily

economical in grabbing the most essential parts of our past so that we can carry it forward

to understand what's happening now and to take it into the future. And so I think part of why we

have these wrong expectations is because we think memory is supposed to be an effortless replay of the past entirely as it happened.

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