Science & Technology

How your memory works — and why forgetting is totally OK | Lisa Genova

Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. Have you ever misplaced something you were just holding? Completely blanked on a famous actor’s name? Walked into a room and immediately forgot why? Neuroscientist Lisa Genova digs into two types of memory failures we regularly experience — and…

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Have you ever misplaced something you were just holding? Completely blanked on a famous actor’s name? Walked into a room and immediately forgot why? Neuroscientist Lisa Genova digs into two types of memory failures we regularly experience — and reassures us that forgetting is totally normal. Stay tuned for a conversation with TED science curator David Biello, where Genova describes the difference between common moments of forgetting and possible signs of Alzheimer’s, debunks a widespread myth about brain capacity and shares what you can do to keep your brain healthy and your memory sharp. (This virtual conversation was part of an exclusive TED Membership event. Visit to become a TED Member.)

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61 Comments

  1. Adrian Barker

    April 29, 2021 at 4:32 pm

    I’ve forgotten what I was gonna say!

    • Bernardo Fitzpatrick

      April 29, 2021 at 6:20 pm

      Hahaha

  2. Naomi Acosta

    April 29, 2021 at 4:37 pm

    My short term memory is shot. I can remember things that happened 20 years ago but can’t remember why I came into this room. 😂😂😂

    • thelco1

      April 29, 2021 at 6:19 pm

      You may be really distracted. Maybe others things are often on your mind.

  3. Douglas B

    April 29, 2021 at 4:38 pm

    This is a classic example of.. something talks…red…sed..oh a whole bunch of common sense! From dead talks! At least I got through a 1/4 of this…. oh I got it Tard Talks!

  4. Eliot Li

    April 29, 2021 at 4:40 pm

    This makes me think that my lack of exercise and my sleep habits are affecting my memory.

  5. Gaasuba Meskhenet

    April 29, 2021 at 4:50 pm

    Look up How to ADHD if you think your forgetfulness is above average

  6. Basuri wale

    April 29, 2021 at 5:06 pm

    Tbh nobody forget their ex 😂😂

  7. AmrddH

    April 29, 2021 at 5:07 pm

    I feel so validated

  8. Marcus Evans

    April 29, 2021 at 5:12 pm

    Thanks take care of your brain

  9. 이지유

    April 29, 2021 at 5:24 pm

    I’d already realized that we only remember what we pay attention to and what we deem to be important for us to remember, but I didn’t know how I could remember things which I want to recall so thank you Ted talk!

  10. Adarsh Anand

    April 29, 2021 at 5:35 pm

    ‘I’m gonna get Alzheimer’ followed by thoughts of mild amnesia and then Parkinson’s Disease…. Totally relatable.

  11. John Marino

    April 29, 2021 at 5:37 pm

    About once a month I forget if I have yet washed my hair while I’m still in the shower.

  12. Kingstown

    April 29, 2021 at 5:51 pm

    You know what’s crazy, I’ll have moments where dreams I’ve had years ago just randomly pop into my head throughout the day. This happens many times, and the scenarios in those dreams still fresh, it’s insane

  13. TOY BOX BRAIN

    April 29, 2021 at 6:21 pm

    Isn’t this ablist against people with Alzheimer’s?

  14. Cyclical-UK

    April 29, 2021 at 6:50 pm

    Well that was the best Ted Talk I’ve heard.

  15. Tiffany M

    April 29, 2021 at 6:54 pm

    Quick trick: if you’re trying to remember something short term, think about *where* you need to remember the task, so you don’t forget you’re looking for your glasses in the kitchen

    • Erich TheCat

      April 29, 2021 at 7:31 pm

      Or add another two small things, three works a lot better in my case

    • Aleksander Torken

      April 30, 2021 at 9:12 am

      I just put stuff in their designated place. Hate it when they aren’t there.

    • Erich TheCat

      April 30, 2021 at 9:18 am

      @Aleksander Torken things disappear and appear again later !!!

  16. Emmanuel D.

    April 29, 2021 at 7:04 pm

    Great talk! I’ve been reading Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey which is related to this topic and highly recommend it.

  17. Draw Red Lion

    April 29, 2021 at 7:38 pm

    Channel dedicated to drawing,.
    “Drawing is my passion, not a gift”

  18. Kongolox

    April 29, 2021 at 9:04 pm

    u know.. water is wet.. -__-
    what an utterly useless video

  19. aLaa aLi

    April 29, 2021 at 9:30 pm

    I thought I was normal.. I just forget like every one else. I then found out that I really had a bad memorizing skills. I have tried to develop my skill and Read many books but I didnt make enough progress. I was told by my advisor that I have a short term memory and should pursue another career. I am still trying to find it out. I know there is away to make it better and I Will find it.

  20. Mandeep

    April 29, 2021 at 10:14 pm

    I did wonder about the google bit, very interesting stuff

  21. Vikram Doddi

    April 29, 2021 at 11:30 pm

    Lance Armstrong called. He wants you to kindly stop calling him an ugly sister. 🤣

  22. Laura BlackRoseStar

    April 30, 2021 at 12:26 am

    It might be ok, but I can’t deal with the lack of memory recall… my mind wont let it go…

  23. Laura BlackRoseStar

    April 30, 2021 at 12:26 am

    It might be ok, but I can’t deal with the lack of memory recall… my mind wont let it go…being an office person, I was constantly retrieving information from my brain….now I feel weird…

  24. David Peters

    April 30, 2021 at 12:26 am

    If you can’t remember where you’ve put something think to yourself: “My hands know where I’ve put it.” It also helps if you close your eyes as you do this. A few minutes later… after having given up looking for it … there’s a good chance you’ll find it.

  25. Jordan Peters (Newtonscat)

    April 30, 2021 at 12:26 am

    If you can’t remember where you’ve put something think to yourself: “My hands know where I’ve put it.” It also helps if you close your eyes as you do this. A few minutes later… after having given up looking for it … there’s a good chance you’ll find it.

  26. Carmen Ruiz

    April 30, 2021 at 12:33 am

    what a relief! great to know! great info! thank you, Ms Genova!

  27. Marinilce Fagundes dos Santos

    April 30, 2021 at 1:02 am

    Great talk

  28. sam scribbles

    April 30, 2021 at 1:58 am

    Showing this to my parents who gets angry at me for forgetting something. Lmao

  29. Ron Light

    April 30, 2021 at 4:04 am

    Guilty as charged: “Yes” to all of the above. And thanks for asking.

  30. amalia nur

    April 30, 2021 at 4:32 am

    Thanks for education

  31. Patrick Kirby

    April 30, 2021 at 7:08 am

    ☆ When she mention “wheres my phone” ..I’m like “Omg I can’t find my phone. I was looking for it for a good 10 minutes when I realized… I’m holding it watching this video. I know..

  32. Patrick Kirby

    April 30, 2021 at 7:11 am

    So is Prevagen a rip off or?

  33. José Martins

    April 30, 2021 at 8:08 am

    “Ugly sister” is a horrible expression to repeat so many times… stopped watching and WILL remember.

  34. Ritik Bhat

    April 30, 2021 at 8:41 am

    I actually forgot what this video had said so I came back…I remember it was good 🥺

  35. IV

    April 30, 2021 at 10:11 am

    What’s that song that goes bum dum tis dum tis tis dum bi bum called again?

  36. D W

    April 30, 2021 at 12:07 pm

    I was going to post a really witty comment, but I’ve forgotten what I was going to write.

  37. S Lax

    April 30, 2021 at 2:23 pm

    This was so educating, I really wanted to know more about this to help family as well

  38. SELMAN T.

    April 30, 2021 at 4:21 pm

    Today I thought about myself why am I forget lots of some thing in our my life and then I found this video on my YouTube channel. It looks like artificial neural network is better than me

  39. S

    April 30, 2021 at 8:39 pm

    Apparently according to my boss, I had a mid year check in meeting in the fall- I don’t recall any of it.

  40. Steven Brown

    April 30, 2021 at 8:57 pm

    If I forget a name of some musician or artist, person, etc I start with the alphabet. I run from A to Z and almost always I will ‘hit’ upon the correct letter or a significant part of the name. I have been doing this since I was a kid. It works for me.

  41. LUCIANITO

    April 30, 2021 at 10:59 pm

    Plot twist: mine doesn’t

  42. gege liang

    May 1, 2021 at 9:06 am

    I think this vedio will teach me how to remenber the thing. i think i come to wrong place

  43. Troy Mylius

    May 1, 2021 at 12:53 pm

    DON’T BELIEVE THIS WOMAN!!! This is very disappointing. She comes from conventional education where everything is just a normal part of life. I used to forget where I put my keys, my drive to work, why I walked into a room etc and then I stopped eating the S.A.D. and my brain came back online. She’s spreading false information and now more people will accept that they’re just supposed to decline mentally. Shows anybody can get a degree and a great example of why American health is going off the rails. Wait till Alzheimer’s is as common as being fat and we’ll see if she changes her mind. Stay away from seed oils, sugar, and starch and you’ll find she’s lying to you too.

  44. kermitefrog64

    May 1, 2021 at 3:47 pm

    Forgetting is God’s way of helping us to get some exercise and keeping us humble. LOL. When it come to keys and have to keep another car key in my bag. This recently came in handy when I came out of Costco.

    • kermitefrog64

      May 1, 2021 at 3:49 pm

      And my horrible sentence structure is my brain running faster than my fingers.

  45. Aziz Öztürk

    May 1, 2021 at 10:16 pm

    ‘forgetting is totally OK’??? Come on! It is not, once a barista makes you repeat your order triple times just in 1 minute 🙂

  46. Irfan Cutcu

    May 2, 2021 at 10:07 am

    Jist finished watching.
    Forgot what this was about.

  47. Shlonkeydonkey1

    May 2, 2021 at 12:02 pm

    “Forgetting is ok” tell that to my parents after I forgot my MacBook at the train station.

  48. outlier

    May 3, 2021 at 9:06 am

    Memories are encoded most strongly when we’re paying attention, when we’re deeply engaged, and when information is meaningful to us (TED-Ed)

  49. OurSimpleArts

    May 3, 2021 at 10:33 am

    80 Year Olds: “Write that down…………………WRITE THAT DOWN”!!

  50. prosserdaqwerty

    May 3, 2021 at 4:25 pm

    Therefore ladies, the next time someone forgets a birthday or anniversary…

  51. SpaghettiMitch

    May 4, 2021 at 3:07 am

    One of the most useful and well spoken talks of the quarantine ted era

  52. Erika Mants

    May 5, 2021 at 1:36 pm

    I am usually on top of everything and I’m hitting my 30s and so far I’ve lost my keys, I’d forget why I called someone things like that. Makes me super nervous but maybe it’s because this is my last semester? I don’t know but I’ve been getting so anxious over it 😫
    this helps thank you!

  53. claire s

    May 6, 2021 at 2:09 am

    “did any of you forget where you put your phone?” yesterday i left my phone somewhere and it got stolen

  54. Sachin Ganpat

    May 6, 2021 at 9:35 pm

    She reminds me of an actress. Her name is on the tip of my tongue. Ahhh… I just can’t put my finger on it.

    • Sachin Ganpat

      May 6, 2021 at 9:43 pm

      Sarah Silverman. That’s who.

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