Episode Details

Today, you’ll learn about why our ability to remember things seems to get worse with age—it’s not memory loss, which animals could become the new dominant species in the event of our extinction, and how an unsupportive romantic partner can actually affect the way you think and feel about yourself.

Maybe your mom was right about cleaning your room.

• “How Memory ‘Clutter’ Makes it Harder to Remember Things as we Get Older” by Alexander Easton
  • https://theconversation.com/how-memory-clutter-makes-it-harder-to-remember-things-as-we-get-older-176767
• “Memory Issues for Older People Could be the Result of ‘Clutter’” by Sarah Sloat
  • https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/memory-issues-older-people-result-clutter-rcna15133

The next era for animals.

• “When humans are gone, what animals might evolve to have our smarts and skills?” by Joanna Thompson
  • https://www.livescience.com/what-animals-will-fill-human-niches
• “Can introduced animals replace extinct ones?” by Brigitte Osterath
  • https://www.dw.com/en/can-introduced-animals-replace-extinct-ones/a-16937417

Couples therapy may in fact help your brain.

• “Having an unsupportive romantic partner is associated with neurophysiological changes in error processing” by Eric W. Dolan
  • https://www.psypost.org/2022/04/having-an-unsupportive-romantic-partner-is-associated-with-neurophysiological-changes-in-error-processing-62977
• “Unsupportive romantic partner behaviors increase neural reactivity to mistakes” by Erin N Palmwood
  • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167876021008886

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Find episode transcripts here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/a-clutterful-mind-heir-to-the-earth-partnership