Memory: How to Boost It

Science Vs

Spotify Studios

Education, Science, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 11.7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Lots of us feel like our memories are garbage — like we’d forget our pants if they weren’t on our legs. But what if the science told us that forgetting stuff is totally normal? We dig into the weird science of why our memories work the way they do. And if we DO want better retention in our brain box, are there science-approved ways to boost our memories? We talk to cognitive neuroscientist Prof. Charan Ranganath, neuroscientist Prof. Loren Frank, and psychologist Prof. Jan Born. Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsMemory Check out Charan Ranganath’s book, Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory’s Power to Hold On To What Matters: https://charanranganath.com/book/ In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Our crappy memories (03:50) Forgetting is the default (08:49) Event boundaries and how to get around them (13:30) To remember more, up the stakes (18:33) Can supplements or crosswords boost our memory? (24:00) How sleep can enhance our memory (28:48) “Downtime” as a memory hack This episode was produced by Meryl Horn, with help from Wendy Zukerman, Rose Rimler, Michelle Dang, and Ekedi Fausther-Keeys. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Mix and sound design by Bumi Hidaka. Fact checking by Sam Lemonick. Music written by Bumi Hidaka, Bobby Lord, and Emma Munger. Thanks to all the researchers we spoke to for this episode, including Professor Bruce Miller, Dr. Christopher Madan, Professor Joel Kramer, Professor Marc Roig, Professor Sarah Raskin, and Professor Steven DeKosky. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman and you're listening to Science Verses.
0:03.6	So we're back with a bunch of brand new episodes.
0:07.6	Did you miss us? We missed you.
0:09.4	Thanks so much for joining us again.
0:11.0	And if you like what we're doing here at Science Verses,
0:13.6	please tell your friends about us, share the love.
0:17.1	All right, let's get into it.
0:20.9	This is the show that pits facts against...
0:24.6	Dah.
0:26.6	Facts against memory.
0:35.6	That's right.
0:36.6	Today we are pitting facts against memory.
0:40.6	Because a lot of us think that our memory has gone down the toilet.
0:45.5	Senior producer Merrill Horn got to chatting with some of our colleagues at Spotify about this.
0:50.3	Do you worry about your memory?
0:51.8	Oh, yes. I certainly do, yeah.
0:53.9	I definitely would give it a D. Yes, I worry about my memory? Oh, yes. I certainly do, yeah. I definitely would give it a D.
0:56.2	Yes, I worry about my memory, and I have for a very long time.
1:00.0	It's kind of like a blurry fog, like a gauze over everything.
1:04.2	And people were really noticing this in their day-to-day at home.
1:08.2	I certainly lose things around that house a lot more often.
1:11.9	Like what?
	...

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