How to Improve Your Memory & Cognitive Function at Any Age | Dr. Alan Castel

**Dr. Alan Castel** (0:00)
Good learning happens through making mistakes. Just seeing something many times doesn't mean you'll remember it well. You've seen the Apple logo so many times, of course, you know all the features. But then when you quiz people and test them, and I do this in my class, people aren't sure if the bite on the left or the right-hand side, is there a stem or a leaf? The best way to remember something is to, again, failures. I'll have you draw it without looking at it, and you struggle in a way, does it on the left or right, and it says a stem or a leaf, and you're starting to question all of these things. Then when you look at the logo again, you're going to engage in better learning than if you hadn't done that errorful kind of trial beforehand.

**Andrew Huberman** (0:35)
Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a Professor of Neurobiology and Ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Dr. Alan Castel.
Dr. Alan Castel is a Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
He is one of the world's foremost experts on human memory and cognitive aging. Today we discuss what determines if we remember something, like a name or an event or how to do something. And we discuss how to improve our ability to remember information of all kinds at any age. We also discuss how anytime we plan or imagine something about our future, we are always building that on memories of our past and what that means for our ability to come up with new ideas and plans for our lives. And we discuss how our memory changes across the lifespan and why some people retain exceptional cognitive abilities well into their 80s and 90s and even beyond. And what any of us can do to improve our chances of maintaining or even getting better at memory as we age. Indeed, while most people assume that memory decline is an inevitable consequence of getting older, Dr. Castel explains research that tells us the story is far more nuanced and more optimistic. In fact, we cover one of the more powerful and perhaps surprising influences on our rate of cognitive aging, which is your beliefs about aging itself. And finally, we discuss so-called superagers, which is the name given to older adults whose memory performance rivals that of people decades younger.
He explains which superager protocols are accessible to anyone and how they can be incorporated into everyday life to benefit our mental and our physical health. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, today's episode does include sponsors. And now for my discussion with Dr. Alan Castel. Dr. Alan Castel, welcome.

**Dr. Alan Castel** (2:40)
Thank you. Nice to be here.

**Andrew Huberman** (2:41)
You're going to tell us how to build up and keep our memory. But let's start by asking, what is memory or rather, how do you conceptualize memory from the standpoint of we move through life, we experience things, let's call it passively, or we try to remember certain things.
What determines what information we hold on to, how long and so on?

**Dr. Alan Castel** (3:04)
It's a great question. And memory is really a mental representation of the past. And by its very nature, it's reconstructive. It's never always accurate. And I think that's why it's so mysterious and fascinating that you and I can see the same event and then remember it differently a week or a day later.
And it starts kind of almost at the sensory level. And sometimes our mind plays tricks on us. And that's how I got interested in this field. How can I think I know something and yet not know it as well as I do? And this is something that's called metacognition, our awareness of our own cognition. And as a personal anecdote, when I was in fifth or sixth grade, I had one line in the play The Wizard of Oz. It's a line I practiced again and again. Listen, everyone, there's a cyclone on the way. Hurry and get into the cellar. And of course, on opening night, listen, everyone, there's a cellar on the way. Hurry and get into the cyclone.

**Andrew Huberman** (3:57)
Nice.

**Dr. Alan Castel** (3:58)
And I was thinking, how did I manage that? Having memorized this line, most of the audience probably didn't even notice. But that to me was an early exposure to, memory is not always kind of a function of what you do with the information.