#430 – Charan Ranganath: Human Memory, Imagination, Deja Vu, and False Memories

Charan Ranganath is a psychologist and neuroscientist at UC Davis, specializing in human memory. He is the author of a new book titled Why We Remember. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:

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Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/charan-ranganath-transcript

EPISODE LINKS:

Charan’s X: https://x.com/CharanRanganath

Charan’s Instagram: https://instagram.com/thememorydoc

Charan’s Website: https://charanranganath.com

Why We Remember (book): https://amzn.to/3WzUF6x

Charan’s Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ptWkt1wAAAAJ

Dynamic Memory Lab: https://dml.ucdavis.edu/

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OUTLINE:

Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

(00:00) – Introduction

(10:18) – Experiencing self vs remembering self

(23:59) – Creating memories

(33:31) – Why we forget

(41:08) – Training memory

(51:37) – Memory hacks

(1:03:26) – Imagination vs memory

(1:12:44) – Memory competitions

(1:22:33) – Science of memory

(1:37:48) – Discoveries

(1:48:52) – Deja vu

(1:54:09) – False memories

(2:14:14) – False confessions

(2:18:00) – Heartbreak

(2:25:34) – Nature of time

(2:33:15) – Brain–computer interface (BCI)

(2:47:19) – AI and memory

(2:57:33) – ADHD

(3:04:30) – Music

(3:14:15) – Human mind