We had a good discussion about Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting, by Lisa Genova. This is this author's second book about the memory. Her first book, Still Alice, about a woman who had early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, was self-published in 2007 and later became a bestseller. (Our group discussed Still Alice in 2014.)
Carla led us on a journey through the mind. We had a lot in
common about a lot of the concepts in the book. The discussion and the book seemed
to trigger our memories rather than make us forget things or make us notice
forgetting. We went through the question list. A lot of us were familiar with
the experiences of forgetting that were mentioned in the book; and for each of
the author’s hints as to how to better remember, it seemed one or more, and in
some cases most, of us have used that advice.
Remember is almost a self-help book. It’s divided
into 3 main chapters: How we Remember, Why We Forget, and Improve or Impair. Much
of the book is common knowledge, especially among readers heading into advanced
ages. Some of the tools and advice Genova mentioned in the “Improve or Impair”
section have been working for some of us. We were familiar with “muscle memory,”
such as for driving a car with a stick shift or riding a bicycle, both well
known as activities one “never forgets.” For dancing, one can utilize muscle memory
by practicing the moves for a song over and over. Then, it becomes easy to join
other dancers with the right moves when the song is played. For the “tip of the
tongue” phenomenon (technically called “lethologica,” and on the way down that
rabbit hole, there’s “lethonomia” for forgetting names), many Baby Boomers go
through the alphabet to help remember whatever word has temporarily abandoned
them; this tool is mentioned in the book. It was interesting to note that tip of the tongue starts in childhood but becomes more pervasive in each person’s
life when they reach much older ages. Some of us liked Genova’s discussing how
paying attention results in a higher likelihood of remembering something and
how, likewise, avoiding repeating or thinking about something can help us to
forget it.
Well-received takeaways included the following: Paying
attention to things helps you remember them. Stress isn’t good for the memory,
as it shrinks the seat of memory in the brain, the hippocampus. Sleep works
with attention for creating memories. Attention helps us notice things, and
then our brains encode and consolidate new memories during sleep. Caffeine can
help create memories when placed between memorable activities and sleep or
napping. Exercise is good for the brain. (I think we’ve heard and read that
before.) A takeaway some of us found surprising and maybe disturbing is that
puzzles and games are not primary resources for evading Alzheimer’s disease;
once you become adept at a puzzle type or a game, the “healthy” aspect
diminishes along with the learning factor. Genova’s well-researched recommendation
is to learn/do new things rather than revisiting established habits.
This book helped some of us to feel better about the
inevitable diminishing of the power of the memory as we age. The book generally
reassured us, especially the chapter delineating differences among types of
forgetting as they relate to the differences between normal aging and
Alzheimer’s disease. The differences are vast, so the common and minor memory
glitches many of us suffer during our senior years can remain ephemeral and
allow us to feel free to enjoy and appreciate our senior years, complete with “senior
moments.”
