How do our senses impact our memories? (with Professor of Neuroscience, Dr. Charan Ranganath)

"That's part of what gives us that vivid memory is the sense of touch the sense of smell what we're seeing and that all what we're feeling emotionally and that all is going to give you a memory that's much more rich than something that you could just imagine right So in other if I read a book about going to the beach versus I actually go to the beach In some sense there's a lot of commonality between the two I could read a story of somebody who went to the beach or I could live out that experience myself at the beach And to your brain the main difference would be that actual physical sensations of being at the beach and seeing things and feeling things and hearing things"

Charan Ranganath is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and director of the Dynamic Memory Lab at the University of California at Davis. For over 25 years, Dr. Ranganath has studied the mechanisms in the brain that allow us to remember past events, using brain imaging techniques, computational modeling and studies of patients with memory disorders. He has been recognized with a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship. He lives in Davis, California.

Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters