Why We Remember Quotes

“Our memories are malleable and sometimes inaccurate because our brains were designed to navigate a world that is constantly changing: A place that was once a prime foraging site might now be a barren wasteland. A person we once trusted might turn out to pose a threat. Human memory needed to be flexible and to adapt to context more than it needed to be static and photographically accurate.”
― Charan Ranganath, Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters

“Although we tend to believe that we can and should remember anything we want, the reality is we are designed to forget, which is one of the most important lessons to be taken from the science of memory.”
― Charan Ranganath, Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters

“Memory is much, much more than an archive of the past; it is the prism through which we see ourselves, others, and the world.”
― Charan Ranganath, Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters

“At the opposite end of the spectrum, some people who have extensive damage to the prefrontal cortex can confidently recall things that never happened, a phenomenon called confabulation. Neurologist and author Jules Montague described the case of a young seamstress from Dublin, Ireland, named Maggie who was convinced she had visited Madonna’s house the week before and advised her on what outfits to wear on tour. Although Maggie had never met the pop singer, she was not psychotic nor was she lying; she had encephalitis, swelling of the brain, which was interfering with her ability to monitor the sources of information that popped into her head.”
― Charan Ranganath, Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters

“Frederic Bartlett, one of the most important figures in the history of memory research, “literal recall is extraordinarily unimportant.”
― Charan Ranganath, Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters