Why We Remember

Forgotten a name? Where you left you keys? What you were just about to say?Dr Charan Ranganath’s work on memory over the past 25 years has made it abundantly clear that were not supposed to remember everything. The problem isnt our memory; its that weve had the wrong expectations for ourselves all along. We are designed to forget. Our memories are flawed, incomplete, and inaccurate on purpose. And our memories change all the time. As Dr Ranganath shows, our brains evolved not to record the past, but to extract the information we need to guide us in the future. Through personal stories and case studies, Dr Ranganath explores how we learn, the principles behind what and why we forget (and why the pandemic was particularly challenging for our memories), and open our eyes to the silent, pervasive influence of memory. He reveals the role that attention, intention, the body-brain connection, context, emotion and imagination plays in memory. And drawing on his research and clinical practise hell present concrete tools that can help us to remember better throughout. Ground-breaking and universally applicable, Why We Remember will shift how we see ourselves and become a vital users guide for everyone of us.