Podcast: Memory and Forgetting

Everyone has instances where inability to recall a name or face occurs and sometimes frightens us.  But, if you have a loved one with Alzheimer’s, you may have experienced what I would call “advanced level” frustrations about memory.  Why does he (or she) remember one thing, but not another?  (For a long time, my father would spontaneously give answers to questions on Jeopardy, on topics he could no longer discuss 0r understand in conversation. Our family puzzled about whether there was a way to help him access positive memories, without putting pressure on him, in the same way Alex Trebek seemed to accomplish!) Are memories coded by importance? These kinds of questions guide an interesting discussion on a recent Radiolab episode on Memory and Forgetting, now available on podcast.

The experts interviewed, including the always interesting Dr. Elizabeth Loftus at University of California Irvine, and the studies described on this episode also document many reasons to be cautious about the significance of eye witness testimony in court cases.  Lawyers intimately rely on, or are confounded by, the ability to remember.