Remember Book Summary

Paying attention is crucial for memory formation. Some key insights:

• You can only remember what you pay attention to. Perception alone isn't enough - you must add your attention to encode something into memory.
• Attention acts like a "save button", capturing certain details to be consolidated while the rest is discarded and forgotten. What you pay attention to depends on what you find interesting, meaningful, surprising, emotional, etc.
• Distractions, stress, lack of sleep and excessive screen time all impair attention and memory. To remember more, practice mindfulness, get enough sleep, and limit distractions.
• If you forget something, like where you parked, it's often due to lack of attention, not a memory failure. You never encoded the parking spot in the first place.

Section: 1, Chapter: 2

Semantic memory is our memory for facts, the "Wikipedia of your brain". Semantic memories are facts you know without remembering how you learned them, like the capital of France or your birthdate

Acquiring semantic memories requires effortful studying and repetition, ideally spaced out over time vs. crammed. Self-testing is even better than restudying for strengthening semantic memory

Attaching meaning, like with mnemonics (Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge for music notes) or a personal association (Laird Hamilton the surfer is married to volleyball player Gabrielle Reece) makes facts stickier Using visual-spatial memory techniques like memory palaces can drastically improve recall of lists and strings of information in order

Section: 1, Chapter: 5

We don't remember most of what happens to us, only retaining select fragments of our personal past. Autobiographical memory is the story of your life stitched together from your most meaningful episodic memories. It's highly selective and forms the basis of your identity.

We tend to remember events that are emotional, surprising, personally significant, and self-relevant. The mundane and routine rarely make the cut. Repetition and rehearsal, like retelling stories or looking at photos, strengthens autobiographical memories, but also makes them vulnerable to distortion over time. Each recall modifies the memory.

There is a "reminiscence bump" between ages 15-30 when many of our most vividly remembered autobiographical events occur - likely because of all the memorable "firsts" in those years.

Section: 1, Chapter: 6

Since we forget the vast majority of our life experiences over time, the author offers some tips for retaining more autobiographical memories:

• Keep a journal - this not only preserves details of your day, but the act of writing aids consolidation and the journal can provide retrieval cues
• Take photos/videos - looking back on these media later helps you relive experiences and retain them longer
• Reflect and reminisce - thinking and talking about memories reactivates them, making them more durable

Section: 1, Chapter: 6

The author offers tips for avoiding or quickly resolving the awkward social gaffes caused by forgetting names:

• Pay attention when first hearing the name. Many name lapses aren't true forgetting but rather a failure to encode the name initially due to distraction or disinterest.
• Repeat the name aloud: "Nice to meet you, Sarah." Hearing your own voice say it boosts encoding.
• Make the name meaningful. Sarah > has red hair like your sister Sarah, sell seashells by the seashore, dated Sam in high school, etc. Attach personal, visual or memory palace-style associations.

Section: 2, Chapter: 8

Prospective memory - remembering what you need to do later. It relies on external cues (time-based like a 2pm meeting or event-based like buying milk when you see the store) to trigger recall of the intended action. It has two components:

1. forming the initial intention and
2. retrieving it at the right time. Failure is common in both steps.

It's more of a "forgetting" system than a memory system. Up to 70% of daily memory lapses are prospective memory failures. Prospective memory declines with age but is also error-prone in youth, with 50% of 20-somethings forgetting to do an action just 2 hours later in one study

Section: 2, Chapter: 9

Since prospective memory is so flaky, the author provides some practical tips for overcoming this all-too-common weakness:

• Write it down. Put the task on your to-do list, calendar or phone.
• Make specific plans with salient cues. Vague intentions like "I'll exercise sometime today" rarely happen. But "I'll go for a run in the park at noon" is more likely to stick.
• Use visual cuing. Want to remember to take the cookies to the party? Put them on top of your car keys so you can't miss them when it's time to go.
• Set alarms/reminders, especially if your routine is disrupted.

Section: 2, Chapter: 9

The author highlights how meaning and emotion influence what our brains choose to remember or let fade away:

• Meaningful memories are stickier than neutral ones. We forget most of life's routine details (what we ate for lunch last Tuesday) but remember meaningful or emotional events (a great trip) for years.
• Attaching personal significance to information makes it easier to learn and retain.
• Mnemonics work because they make nonsense meaningful.
• Memories linked to strong emotions like fear, joy, grief, or love are more vivid and long-lasting, even if details drift over time.
• Memory has a "positivity bias," preferentially storing and recalling positive memories and associations over negative ones to maintain our rosy self-image.

Section: 2, Chapter: 10

Although some age-related memory decline is inevitable, adopting brain-healthy habits can significantly reduce your risk of debilitating impairment or dementia:

• Exercising regularly, both aerobically and with strength training. Exercise improves circulation and neuroplasticity and may stimulate the birth of new neurons.
• Following a Mediterranean-style diet rich in vegetables, fruit, fish, olive oil, nuts, and whole grains while minimizing red meat, sugar, and processed foods. These nutrients reduce inflammation and other damage to brain cells.
• Staying intellectually engaged by learning new skills, taking classes, reading challenging books, and maintaining social connections. Keeping your brain active helps build "cognitive reserve" that protects against Alzheimer's.
• Getting 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Sleep deprivation impairs focus, torpedoes memory consolidation, and allows toxic plaques to build up.

Section: 2, Chapter: 12

Memory retrieval depends heavily on context - the external environment and internal state present when a memory was formed.

Memories are easier to recall when the context at retrieval matches the context at encoding. This applies to place, time, people, and even internal states like mood, hunger or caffeine levels. Conversely, being in a different context than where you learned something can impair recall.

To leverage this, study under conditions similar to the test. Drink coffee while studying and testing. Recall what you learned in the same room. Context matters!

Section: 3, Chapter: 14

Sleep is one of the most important factors for forming and retaining memories for the long term:

• During sleep, the brain replays and strengthens neural connections that were active during learning. This aids consolidation of new memories.
• Lack of sleep impairs attention the next day, making it harder to encode new memories. It also prevents the full benefits of rehearsal and practice from taking hold.
• Naps can boost memory as well. A 20-minute nap after learning something new can provide significant memory enhancement without the grogginess of longer naps.
• Most importantly, chronic sleep deprivation is a major risk factor for Alzheimer's. During deep sleep, the brain clears out the amyloid protein that can lead to dementia.

Section: 3, Chapter: 16