This neuroscientist wants you to embrace your forgetfulnessIf you've ever forgotten where you parked the car or the name of someone you've just met, you know that it makes you question whether you're losing your mind. But bestselling author Lisa Genova says you're not. Her new book, Remember, explores the science of memory and the art of forgetting.

Social Sharing

Lisa Genova explores the science of memory and the art of forgetting in her latest book, Remember

CBC Radio(Greg Mentzer, Harmony Books)commentsThe Sunday Magazine34:32'Our human memory is not perfect': Neuroscientist Lisa Genova wants you to embrace your forgetfulness

This interview first aired on April 25, 2021

Have you ever forgotten where you parked your car, or why you entered a specific room?

If you have, you might be familiar with the vaguely unsettling feeling that you're losing your mind, or that you're experiencing early signs of Alzheimer's disease.

But according to neuroscientist and bestselling author Lisa Genova, those memory slips are nothing to be worried about.

Genova is the author of Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting. She says we tend to "villainize" forgetting, but in reality, it's a normal part of how our brain functions.

• Lisa Genova unravels Huntington's disease in 'Inside the O'Briens'

"We do need to forget the things that are habitual, inconsequential, routine," she told The Sunday Magazine's Piya Chattopadhyay, in order to bring the things that matter to the foreground.

Genova spoke to Chattopadhyay about how our brains create and alter memories, and why we forget.

Here is part of their conversation.

We have all had those kinds of moments that your readers confess, [like] forgetting where we put the keys…. It is so common … so why is it so scary when we start to feel like we're losing our memories?

I think because memory is so essential and pervasive for pretty much everything we do. We need memory to be able to brush our teeth. We need memory to know the people in our lives. We need memory to get on the Zoom calls. 

But memory is also attached to our identity. It gives us a sense of who we've been and who we are. So if we start to feel like we're losing a grip on that — and then maybe you've had a loved one who had Alzheimer's and you've witnessed the devastation of a person becoming detached from all the memories, all the personal history. Then to imagine that slippery slope is justifiably terrifying.

WATCH: Lisa Genova on how to connect with someone who has Alzheimer's

VIDEO: How to connect with someone who has Alzheimer's

5 years agoDuration 0:38VIDEO: How to connect with someone who has Alzheimer'sFULL EPISODE: The Sunday Magazine for April 25, 2021

(editor：)