Remember things better by understanding how your memory works. If memory is a simple thing, why does it so often go awry? Why is forgetting so common? How can you be certain about something you remember-and be wrong about it? Why is it so difficult to remember people's names? How can you study hard for an exam but not be able to recall the material on the test? In Why We Forget, Dr. Andrew Budson and Dr. Elizabeth Kensinger address these questions and more, using their years of experience to guide readers into better memory. Why We Forget shows you how to use these answers to improve your memory. In its pages you will learn: · How memory's most important function isn't to help you remember details from your past. · How memory is actually a collection of different abilities. · How you create, store, and retrieve memories of your daily life. · Ways to control what you remember and what you forget. · Ways to distinguish between a true and false memory. · Effective ways to study for an exam. · How to remember people's names, all your passwords, 50 digits of Pi, and anything else you wish. · How memory changes in normal aging, Alzheimer's disease, depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, and other disorders-including COVID brain fog. · How exercise, nutrition, alcohol, cannabis, sleep, mindfulness, and music affect your memory. Why We Forget uses the science of memory to empower you with the knowledge you need to remember better, whether you are a college student looking to ace your next exam, a business professional preparing a presentation, or a healthcare worker needing to memorize the 600+ muscles in the human body.

Though many factors can influence the likelihood that we remember a past experience, one critical determinant is whether the experience caused us to have an emotional response. Emotional experiences are more likely to be remembered than nonemotional ones, and over the past couple of decades there has been an increased interest in understanding how emotion conveys this memory benefit. This book begins with a broad overview of emotion, memory, and the neural underpinnings of each, providing the reader with an appreciation of the complex interplay between emotion and memory. It then examines how emotion influences young adults' abilities to store information temporarily, or over the long term. It explains emotion's influence on the memory processes that young adults use consciously and on the processes that guide young adults' preferences and actions without their awareness. This book then moves on to describe how each of these influences of emotion are affected by the aging process, and by age-related disease, providing the reader with a lifespan perspective of emotional memory. Within each of the domains covered, the book integrates research from cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychological perspectives, examining both the behavioral and thought processes that lead to emotion's effects on memory and also the underlying brain processes that guide those influences of emotion. This book will be of interest to researchers and graduate students in memory, emotion, and aging, working in the fields of cognitive psychology, cognitive or affective neuroscience, and developmental or lifespan psychology.

Though many factors can influence the likelihood that we remember a past experience, one critical determinant is whether the experience caused us to have an emotional response. Emotional experiences are more likely to be remembered than nonemotional ones, and over the past couple of decades there has been an increased interest in understanding how emotion conveys this memory benefit.

This book begins with a broad overview of emotion, memory, and the neural underpinnings of each, providing the reader with an appreciation of the complex interplay between emotion and memory. It then examines how emotion influences young adults abilities to store information temporarily, or over the long term. It explains emotion s influence on the memory processes that young adults use consciously and on the processes that guide young adults preferences and actions without their awareness. This book then moves on to describe how each of these influences of emotion are affected by the aging process, and by age-related disease, providing the reader with a lifespan perspective of emotional memory.

Within each of the domains covered, the book integrates research from cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychological perspectives, examining both the behavioral and thought processes that lead to emotion s effects on memory and also the underlying brain processes that guide those influences of emotion.

This book will be of interest to researchers and graduate students in memory, emotion, and aging, working in the fields of cognitive psychology, cognitive or affective neuroscience, and developmental or lifespan psychology."

Out of all of the information that we experience, only a subset will become part of our memories. Attentional processes, engaged during an event's unfolding, are essential for allowing us to transform an experience into a memory, and emotion can critically modulate those attentional processes, increasing the likelihood that an emotional experience becomes part of our memory stores. This book reviews behavioural and neuroimaging evidence that has revealed effects of emotion on memory and attention in individuals with and without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).