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Why We Forget and How to Remember Better by Dr. Andrew E. Budson & Dr. Elizabeth A. Kensinger
Erik Jahner, PhD
Erik Jahner, PhD
September 19, 2023

Why We Forget and How to Remember Better by Dr. Andrew E. Budson & Dr. Elizabeth A. Kensinger

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2940176833065_p0_v2_s1200x630Why We Forget and How to Remember Better by Dr. Andrew E. Budson and Dr. Elizabeth A. Kensinger is a captivating research driven exploration of the intricate workings of human memory. In this comprehensive book, the authors delve into the latest scientific insights about memory, making this complex topic accessible and relevant to college students, teachers, and a valuable review and update for researchers.

 

The book begins by addressing the fundamental questions that haunt our understanding of memory. Why do we forget? How can we be certain about our memories? Why do we struggle to recall names and important information when we need them the most? Through their extensive experience, Budson and Kensinger provide insightful answers and guide readers on a journey to understand and enhance their memory.

The book challenges common beliefs by revealing that memory’s primary function goes beyond recalling details from the past; it’s a complex web of abilities waiting to be explored. Also, many of us have heard the terms working memory, procedural memory, short term memory, muscle memory etc.; this book and its awesome illustrations help you clarify and differentiate these and other concepts.

As readers delve into the pages, they gain valuable insights into how memories are formed, stored, and retrieved during daily life. What’s more, the book equips readers with the power to take ownership and control of their memory abilities, offering strategies to remember what matters most and forget what’s less relevant. It goes further, offering practical tips for effective study techniques, a boon for students gearing up for exams. But that’s not all. “Why We Forget and How to Remember Better” doesn’t just stop at enhancing memory for practical tasks. It teaches readers how to remember names, passwords, and even lengthy information like 50 digit numbers, unlocking a world of superhuman enhanced memory skills. It really shows you how to make the most of what you got.

The book discusses the controversial and fascinating area of memory by exploring the fine line between true and false memories, providing readers with tools to navigate the terrain of memory accuracy with confidence.  The narrative also delves into the ever-evolving nature of memory, highlighting how it develops in normal aging and various conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, and the unique impact of COVID-related brain fog.

As the story unfolds, readers discover the intriguing interplay between external factors and memory. It explores how exercise, nutrition, psychedelics, alcohol, cannabis, sleep, mindfulness, and music can all influence the way we remember, emphasizing the vital connection between lifestyle choices and memory health. We get information helping us separate the myths and marketing hype from what has been supported by the science and where there are still questions and possibilities.

While to book uses technical language, the narrative and illustrations makes this language accessible. This is important because the oversimplification of many science-based books for the layperson can easily simplify to the point of generating new myths. But this book is very careful, and you will discover your own misconceptions or at least learn some useful support for dispelling myths of friends, students, and family.

Advice from the authors applies the concepts they teach throughout the book into the construction of the book as a learning resource. To assist readers in recalling the book’s key themes, the authors have applied principles from the science of learning. They’ve deliberately repeated important ideas at intervals and employed vivid metaphors to enhance retention. The information is offered in small meaningful chunks allowing you to read for 15 min learn something and take a break or explore the content in ways that make sense to you. It’s suggested that readers avoid reading the entire book in a single sitting for optimal memory retention. Instead, they should read a few chapters, reflect on the content, and return to it later, preferably after a night’s rest.

I really enjoyed the review and new insights this book offered me as a learning scientist and also learned some great metaphors and ways of presenting information to my students along the way. Most importantly, it’s easy to comprehend, enjoyable, and memorable. It challenges preconceptions, equips readers with practical tools, and offers a panoramic view of memory’s role in our lives. This narrative promises to be a captivating and valuable resource for those seeking to unlock the full potential of their memory and cognitive abilities.

Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology by Michelle Miller
Erik Jahner, PhD
Erik Jahner, PhD
July 19, 2022

Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology by Michelle Miller

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The cognition of remembering and forgetting is central to our lives and our intellectual valuation of ourselves. Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology: Teaching, Learning, and the Science of Memory in a Wired World refreshes our knowledge and shares best practices, but it also situates and reframes the way we approach thinking about memory. The author, Michelle D. Miller, is a professor of psychological science and President’s Distinguished Teaching Fellow at Northern Arizona University. Her experience teaching, consulting, and listening to educators make this book an authentic dialog with the reader.  She displays a nuanced understanding of how the concepts of memory have not only cognitive and instructional relevance but also are embedded in deeply held cultural beliefs, persistent half-truths, and pedagogical value systems. Media coverage and coffee-shop conversations about the promises and pitfalls of technology and memory have been rife with incomplete knowledge, myths, and overzealous myth-busting. In this very accessible but thorough book, Miller helps us navigate this and get our footing.

Miller respects the idea that teaching instructors is a social-emotional endeavor, not an act of transmitting a set of best practices. Before beginning to evaluate the science, it is important to understand our preconceived notions and how our value systems bias our perspective. What is hype and what is fearmongering? Where has the science been misrepresented to preserve traditions or sell the next big idea? In all her chapters, as well as the structure of the book overall, Miller helps us to situate ourselves within the larger cultural value systems surrounding this area of cognition. She helps us understand the foundations of arguments and only then does she guide us through the science that supports or refutes some of these beliefs.  We cannot seek to improve our practices without first respecting and understanding our current dispositions.

As Miller points out, many of us remember foundational models of memory from introduction to psychology courses or some highlights from a text read long ago. The science examining the mechanisms of memory has come a long way and the basic models have been updated but not yet socialized. These early models led many of us to design instructional material, but it’s time for an update. The science has become more ecologically valid and nuanced, and Miller pulls these updates into the text, not through a dense academic literature review, but by illustrating research findings through our everyday experiences: she shows us that the updates make sense. Moreover, the summaries of the studies presented are accurate and well-cited translations of cognitive-neuroscience for those seeking a deeper dive.

The book’s topics are clearly organized, easily referenced, and situated in a narrative structure enjoyable for a long plane ride or summer beach read. She starts the book with a review of the place technology has in our culture and how we generally feel about it, separating the arguments over morality and hype from the arguments over the impact. In the second chapter, she dives into the science, painting a picture of updated models and evidence. This includes some fun but measured myth-busting. We then get into some very concrete best practices: How can we improve our memory? How can we enhance instruction? And where is memory improvement necessary, and where is it important to rely on technology as a cognitive extension of ourselves? As she moves into the topic of attention, we are reminded that technology has often been demonized, but technology is a double-edged sword; it both supports and distracts. We see in the final chapters a balanced view helping to sort out the wheat from the chafe and set up a framework for evaluating the ongoing rapid development of cultural innovations.  Technology will continue to evolve, and we need to develop a healthy, critical, curious, and exploratory disposition towards its integration.

While one gets many very concrete suggestions from this book, it is the framing that really lands this book. It trains the reader to think flexibly about the present and the future. I can’t wait to read it again and share Miller’s insights with my students and colleagues.