Veteran journalist Katie Couric revealed that a frightening health scare left her unable to form new memories for several hours, an episode doctors later diagnosed as transient global amnesia (TGA), a rare condition that typically resolves within one to 24 hours.
Memory Lapse at Aspen Ideas Festival
In a Substack post published this week, the former “Today” show co-host said at one point during the incident, she struggled to recall who the president was, naming Joe Biden instead of Donald Trump. The temporary memory lapse occurred during the Aspen Ideas Festival, where Couric had moderated a panel on artificial intelligence with futurist Amy Webb and later appeared on a discussion about the future of journalism. Couric said she remembers the day’s events until about noon, but everything after that remained “a big, black hole” until around 7 p.m.
“I have no idea what we talked about, or what occurred when the panels ended,” she wrote.
Hospital Evaluation and Diagnosis
Couric’s husband, John Molner, didn’t pick up anything unusual during her conversations at the conference, but noticed that she appeared “weak and dizzy” after her final panel. Molner took Couric to the hospital, where doctors evaluated the reporter for a possible stroke after she had trouble recalling the date, the president, and the names of some family members. An MRI found no evidence of a stroke. Instead, the doctors diagnosed her with transient global amnesia.
According to the Mayo Clinic, transient global amnesia is “an episode of confusion that comes on suddenly in a person who is otherwise alert.” The condition is not caused by epilepsy or a stroke. TGA affects 3.4 to 10.4 people per 100,000 per year, according to the National Institutes of Health. Once you hit 50, the rate of TGA jumps to 23.5 to 32 per 100,000 per year.
Understanding Transient Global Amnesia
Dr. Shaheen E. Lakhan, a neurologist in Miami, Florida, affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, explained that people experiencing a bout of TGA remain conscious and alert but temporarily stop forming new memories. During all of this, the person remains awake, speaks normally, recognizes loved ones, knows who they are, and retains their personality.
“That’s because memory is only one specialized function of the brain, and the rest of the brain continues working remarkably well,” Lakhan said.
“Few neurological conditions are as dramatic to witness,” he added. “Family members often describe it as watching someone become trapped in an endless loop, asking, ‘Where are we?’ or ‘What happened?’ every few minutes.”
Lakhan said he tells patients who’ve experienced TGA to imagine their brains as libraries: if you’re experiencing TGA, the books haven’t disappeared, the shelves haven’t collapsed, and the lights are still very much on — it’s just that for a few hours, the librarian just can’t shelve any new books.
“Everything else keeps working,” he explained. “You know who you are. You recognize your family. You can carry on a conversation, walk, and perform routine tasks. But because your brain can’t ‘save’ new memories during that window, you repeatedly ask the same questions as though you’re hitting refresh every few minutes.”
Triggers of Transient Global Amnesia
Lakhan noted that one of the fascinating things about TGA is that it often follows moments when life briefly “hits the accelerator.” It can happen after strenuous exercise, lifting something heavy, sudden immersion in cold water, sexual activity, emotional shock (experiencing grief or joy), or any other particularly straining physical or emotional experience.
“These events all temporarily change pressure and blood-flow dynamics around the brain, particularly in the hippocampus — the structure responsible for forming new memories — although we still don’t know the exact mechanism,” he explained.
Recurrence and Long-Term Outlook
For most people, TGA is a one-time event. Roughly 85% to 95% never have another episode, Lakhan said. “I tell patients to think of it as a software glitch, not hardware damage,” he said. “The brain briefly stops saving new memories, then reboots without leaving permanent injury. It’s generally considered a benign neurological syndrome.”
Dr. May Kim-Tenser, a professor of clinical neurology and neurosurgery at the University of Southern California and Keck School of Medicine, stated that evidence does not show that TGA increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, or long-term cognitive decline. It’s also not considered a warning sign of an impending stroke once the diagnosis has been confirmed.
What to Do If You Experience Symptoms
Any sudden, unexplained memory loss warrants immediate emergency evaluation. A doctor will want to rule out stroke, seizures, brain hemorrhage, infections, and other neurological emergencies, Kim-Tenser said. “It is considered benign once diagnosed; however, it is essential that we treat this as a neurological emergency initially to rule out more serious conditions, including a head trauma, if the person was in a motor vehicle accident, or fell and hit their head,” she said.
Once those more dangerous conditions have been excluded, Lakhan said the “good news is that TGA is one of the most reassuring diagnoses a neurologist can make.”
