How to build a memory palace
Upgrade your ability to recall dates, names or other details with an ancient trick of the memory trade: the ‘method of loci’
by Lynne Kelly
Memory and nostalgia
Steven has a rare insight into faces – because he cannot recognise them
Directed by Steven Fraser
In an elegy for his childhood home, a filmmaker constructs a lyrical collage of memory
Directed by Damian Gascoigne
Synchronicity
Long ago, I gave a boy a greenfinch. That moment followed me in ways I’m still puzzling over
by Katia Ariel
How to alter the passage of time to feel fast or slow
Knowing the psychology behind why moments drag or whizz by can give you a degree of control over your experience of time
by Martin Wiener
Perhaps the weirdest experience you’ll have sober, what exactly is déjà vu?
Video by BBC Ideas
The voices that stick in our minds
Are the most memorable voices just the ones we hear frequently? Or is there some other quality they have?
by Matt Huston
Why our flawed, flexible memories come with social benefits
Though relationships are grounded in shared memories, some gaps and inaccuracies can help us live well in a social world
by Gillian Murphy & Ciara Greene
How do transgender people remember their earlier selves?
Research with transgender people sheds light on the memory processes that allow any of us to navigate periods of change
by Caleb Schlaupitz
An Aboriginal painter depicts scenes from her youth in this beautiful short
A film by Grace Kemarre Robinya and Jonathan Daw
Discarded
The end of a friendship cracked me apart, triggering hidden memories – and helping me heal old wounds
by Antonia Malchik
When memories from fiction become part of who you are
Scenes from books, movies and games sometimes carry as much weight as events from people’s own lives. We’re finding out why
by Osman Görkem Çetin
Forgetting in ancient Greece and China
Forgetting can be frustrating, even scary. The ancient Greeks certainly thought so. But Daoism offers a more hopeful view
by Sam Dresser
Before it was ‘bittersweet’, nostalgia was seen as a parasite
Early modern ideas about nostalgia, infused with the elements of horror, invite us to think more deeply about human longing
by Jac Lewis
How to get better at remembering
Frustrated by elusive names and misplaced phones? The science of memory reveals ways to improve your powers of recall
by Elizabeth Kensinger & Andrew Budson
It’s not just youth’s happy memories that have a special weight
Mixed in with the highly memorable rites of growing up are more troubling highlights. But these, too, can have enduring value
by Çağlayan Özdemir, Michelle D Leichtman & David B Pillemer