Our understanding of memory is all wrong

Memory defines us in so many ways, but it’s not exactly what we think it is.

We tend to imagine memory almost like a filing cabinet — a faithful record of the past we can pull from when needed. But according to new research, memory is less about storing facts and more about shaping the story of our lives. It helps us make sense of the present and construct meaning out of chaos.

Dr. Charan Ranganath is a neuroscientist at University of California Davis, and the author of Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory’s Power to Hold on to What Matters. His work has transformed how scientists understand the mind’s most mysterious function. I invited him onto The Gray Area to talk about why forgetting is as essential as remembering, how emotion shapes what we recall, why trauma lingers, and how collecti