Why We Remember

Memory does not work like a recording device, preserving everything we have heard, seen, said, and done. Not remembering names or exact dates; having no recollection of the details of a conversation; being unable to recall where you left your glasses or your keys; or watching movies you saw in the past as if you are seeing them for the first time — these are not the symptoms of a failing brain.

They are, on the contrary, signs that your brain is doing just what it was designed to do: prioritize and store important information and let nonessential facts and details slip away, a function that was essential to survival for our evolutionary ancestors. That task has become substantially more difficult with the steady bombardment of email, texts, social media, pop-up ads, and 24-hour news that most people contend with on a daily basis, and as a result, much more extraneous information is forgotten. Even a president might forget a thing or two.

But that doesn’t mean something is wrong. “The problem isn’t your memory, it’s that we have the wrong expectations for what memory is for in the first place,” Ranganath writes in his introduction, a theme that he returns to throughout the book. “Severe memory loss is undoubtedly debilitating, but our most typical complaints and worries around everyday forgetting are largely driven by deeply rooted misconceptions.”

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Far from being static, Ranganath writes, memory, like the brain itself, is malleable, and constantly being updated. It can be shaped by where we are, what we are feeling, what other people say and do, and whether it is a negative or positive memory we are trying to recall. And though people often think about memory as having to do only with the past, Ranganath holds that this is misconceived: Memory also is intimately intertwined with the present and with the future.

“Only when we start to peek behind the veil of the ‘remembering self,’’ he writes, “do we get a glimpse of the pervasive role memory plays in every aspect of human experience and recognize it as a powerful force that can shape everything from our perceptions of reality to the choices and plans we make, to the people we interact with, and even to our identity.”

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Yet Ranganath is the first to admit that what scientists know about memory pales in comparison to what is yet to be learned. “Science is not about having all the answers,” he writes. “It’s about asking better and more revealing questions. There is always going to be a missing piece of the puzzle. But searching for an answer forces us to see the world in new ways, challenging our most stubborn assumptions about who we are.”

- Review of the book Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory’s Power to Hold on to What Matters by Charan Ranganath