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

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 is 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 and wait is it on the left or right and stem or a leaf? And you're starting to question all these things, then when you look at the logo again, you're gonna engage in better learning. And if you hadn't done that errorful kind of trial beforehand, 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 Costell. Dr. Alan Costell 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 any time 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 eighties and nineties 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. Castell 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 doctor Alan Castell.

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