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Dr Karan Explores

Memory Glitches: Can You Trust What You Remember? | Charan Ranganath

Mar 7, 2025
52:37

💬 “ Form memories with intention - and make the decisions in daily life that will give you the memories you want to hold onto.” ~Charan Ranganath

⚡️ Charan Ranganath is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and director of the Dynamic Memory Lab at the University of California at Davis. He’s also the author of Why We Remember: The Science of Memory and How it Shapes Us.

⚡ In this episode Charan and I explore how your memory actually works and how to create a life worth remembering.

🎧 Stay tuned to find out:

➡ How scientifically accurate the movie Inside Out is when it comes to memory

➡︎ How memories can degrade and become distorted over time

➡︎ Why childhood memories are so hard - or impossible - to hold onto

➡︎  How to be more intentional with your memory

➡︎ The science of deja vu, PTSD, dreams and aphantasia

📕 Chapters

(0:34) The science of ‘Inside Out’

(2:39) How memories degrade over time

(5:56) When life “flashes before your eyes”

(8:34) Remembering our dreams

(12:30) Childhood memories

(18:23) How false memories are made

(22:51) Gaslighting

(26:18) Why we fixate on negative memories

(28:57) PTSD and traumatic memories

(35:49) Is modern tech making our memory worse?

(38:56) How to improve your memory

(46:05) The science of deja vu

(49:05) Aphantasia: How some people have no inner monologue

📱 Connect with me:

TikTok: https://www.instagram.com/drkaranrajan

Instagram: https://www.tiktok.com/@dr.karanr

📱 Connect with Charan:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thememorydoc/ 

Website: https://charanranganath.com/ 

🔥 Get my free weekly newsletter filled with easy to action health tips, interesting facts and science to fill your curiosity: https://drkaran.beehiiv.com/subscribe

🔥 For more useful science for your everyday life, grab my best selling book “This Book May Save Your Life”: https://geni.us/DrKaranBook 

🎙️ An OG Podcasts production.

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