TED Radio Hour
8:58 am
Fri May 24, 2013

Memory Games

Credit Marc Grimberg / Getty Images
"We all look through family albums. We all hear stories at the dinner table. ... They become incorporated into what we believe we actually remember." — Scott Fraser

"Some memories come with a very compelling sense of truth about them. And that happens to be the case even with memories that are not true." -- Daniel Kahneman

Memory is malleable, dynamic and elusive. When we tap into our memories, where's the line between fact and fiction? How does our memory play tricks on us, and how can we train it to be more accurate? In this hour, TED speakers discuss how a nimble memory can improve your life, and how a frail one might ruin someone else's.

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TED Radio Hour
8:58 am
Fri May 24, 2013

Can Anyone Learn To Be A Master Memorizer?

Credit James Duncan Davidson
Joshua Foer says that one past memory champion developed a technique to remember more than 4,000 binary digits in half an hour.

Part 3 of the TED Radio Hour episode Memory Games.

About Joshua Foer's TEDTalk

Some people can memorize thousands of numbers, the names of dozens of strangers or the precise order of cards in a shuffled deck. Science writer and U.S. Memory Champion Joshua Foer shows how anyone can become a memory virtuoso, including him.

About Joshua Foer

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TED Radio Hour
8:58 am
Fri May 24, 2013

How Do Experiences Become Memories?

Credit James Duncan Davidson / TED / James Duncan Davidson
Daniel Kahneman says, "we tend to confuse memories with the real experience that gave rise to those memories."

Part 2 of the TED Radio Hour episode Memory Games.

About Daniel Kahneman's TEDTalk

Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman goes through a series of examples of things we might remember, from vacations to colonoscopies. He explains how our "experiencing selves" and our "remembering selves" perceive happiness differently.

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TED Radio Hour
8:58 am
Fri May 24, 2013

Can Eyewitnesses Create Memories?

Credit TEDxUSC
Forensic psychologist Scott Fraser says, "all of our memories, put simply, are reconstructed memories."

Part 1 of the TED Radio Hour episode Memory Games.

About Scott Fraser's TEDTalk

Forensic psychologist Scott Fraser studies how we remember crimes. He describes a deadly shooting and explains how eyewitnesses can create memories that they haven't seen. Why? Because the brain is always trying to fill in the blanks.

About Scott Fraser

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The Two-Way
8:16 am
Fri May 24, 2013

British Soldier Hacked To Death Was 'Our Hero,' Family Says

Credit Dave Thompson / Reuters /Landov
As Ian Rigby spoke Friday about his stepson Lee, a British soldier who was murdered on a south London street this week, the young man's widow, Rebecca (right), and his mother, Lyn, reached out.

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 10:37 am

Krulwich Wonders...
7:45 am
Fri May 24, 2013

Who's The Best Drinker? Dogs? Cats? Or Pigeons?

Credit Newspix/Rex/Rex USA

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 10:56 am

The Two-Way
7:34 am
Fri May 24, 2013

Developing: Explosion, Gunfire In Kabul

Credit Omar Sobhani / Reuters /Landov
A wounded Afghan police officer is helped from the scene of Friday's explosion and gunfire in Kabul.

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 10:49 am

  • NPR's Sean Carberry, reporting from Kabul

There's been an explosion followed by the sound of gunfire in Kabul, NPR's Sean Carberry and other journalists report from the Afghan capital.

Reuters says the explosion occurred "at about 4 p.m. local time in a downtown district. ... There was no word on any casualties." The BBC reports gunfire can be heard near the headquarters of the Afghan intelligence service.

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The Two-Way
7:13 am
Fri May 24, 2013

Assad Regime Agrees To Attend Peace Conference, Russia Says

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 9:27 am

Representatives of President Bashar Assad's regime have agreed "in principle" to attend an international peace conference aimed at ending more than two years of brutal warfare in Syria, Russia's foreign ministry said Friday.

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The Deadly Tornado In Moore, Okla.
6:57 am
Fri May 24, 2013

Community Surprised Okla. Tornado Death Toll Wasn't Higher

Credit Katie Hayes Luke for NPR
Marc Austin monitors radar and issues warnings at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla., on Thursday.

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 8:58 am

Monday's tornado in Moore, Okla., killed 24 people and caused an estimated $2.2 billion worth of damage. As the community reflects on what happened, one question is: How did so many manage to survive such devastating destruction?

Lifelong Oklahoman Kristi Freeman has seen her share of tornadoes, but she says the twister that tore through her neighborhood Monday was something else.

"This tornado was like a monster. It was like something that was alive. It destroyed your peace, your comfort," she says.

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The Two-Way
6:39 am
Fri May 24, 2013

Tornado In Moore, Okla.: Friday's Developments

Credit Lucas Jackson / Reuters /Landov
Rita Green carried a plastic bin of items as she helped a family friend salvage things from a home Thursday in Moore, Okla.

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 9:19 am

As the residents of Moore, Okla., and surrounding communities continue to recover from Monday's devastating tornado that killed at least 24 people and injured more than 375, we're keeping an eye on the news from there:

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