Neuroscientist Anthony Wagner discusses memory formation, brain activation patterns, and multitasking's impact on memory recall. He explores how the hippocampus integrates sensory inputs and the importance of strategic practice for optimizing memory retention.
Stress impairs planning abilities by affecting memory usage, as shown in a Stanford study.
Strategic attentional control improves memory encoding and retrieval, enhancing cognitive performance.
Deep dives
Understanding Memory Formation and Function
Memory is a complex process involving various types of memories, including episodic memories that encompass multi-dimensional aspects of events. The hippocampus plays a crucial role in building and storing memory traces, facilitating memory retrieval. Different brain regions represent distinct features of experiences, such as sounds or visuals, which converge in the hippocampus to form coherent memories. The interaction between cortical and sub-cortical regions influences memory formation, exhibiting neural time travel where patterns of activation are reinstated during memory recall.
Impact of Media Multitasking on Memory
Heavy media multitaskers exhibit reduced episodic memory performance and working memory capacity compared to light multitaskers, even during single-task conditions. Attention lapses prior to engaging in memory-related tasks contribute to memory deficits in heavy media multitaskers. The balance between focused attention and reactive distraction influences memory performance, with strategic attentional control enhancing memory encoding and retrieval abilities.
Optimizing Memory Retention Through Retrieval Practice
Engaging in retrieval practice, such as reminiscing or testing memory recall, significantly enhances long-term memory retention. Studies demonstrate that active retrieval practice after an initial learning episode leads to superior memory retention compared to repeated studying. Retrieval practice requires effort and strategic behavior but yields substantial benefits in retaining meaningful life moments and optimizing cognitive performance.
At some point in our lives, we all struggle with memory — learning a new name, remembering that book you were reading just yesterday or that word on the tip of your tongue.
So what can neuroscience teach us about why we remember, why we forget, and how we might even improve our memories?
To answer this question, I spoke with neuroscientist Anthony Wagner, a memory expert in Stanford's Department of Psychology.
Anthony's new book: Brain Sciences for Lawyers, Judges, and Policymakers (2024). Jones, O. D., Schall, J. D., Shen, F. X., Hoffman, M. B., & Wagner, A. D. Oxford University Press. Order
Episode credits This episode was produced by Michael Osborne at 14th Street Studios, with production assistance by Morgan Honaker. Our logo is by Aimee Garza. The show is hosted by Nicholas Weiler at Stanford's Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute.
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