ADHD for Smart Ass Women with Tracy Otsuka · Tracy Otsuka

Episode 356: The Science of Memory and ADHD with Dr. Daniella Karidi

October 29, 2025·1 hr·4 clips

Dr. Karidi reveals why prospective memory, not working memory, is the key ADHD challenge most people overlook.

1. 'ADHD for Smart Ass Women' episode 356 features Dr. Daniela Caridi, a Northwestern PhD and ADHD memory researcher, on the science of memory and ADHD. 2. Dr. Caridi is the founder of ADHD Time in Encino, California, holds a doctorate from Northwestern University where she researched memory and ADHD, has a master's in learning disabilities, and previously directed university disability services. 3. The episode's thesis is that ADHD memory problems center on prospective memory — remembering to act in the future — not just working memory, and that understanding this distinction unlocks practical solutions. 4. Dr. Caridi was diagnosed with severe dyslexia in fifth grade in Israel; her mother was told 'girls don't have ADHD,' and she received her official combined ADHD diagnosis only during her master's program at Haifa University. 5. She entered her PhD specifically to research why she was always late to meetings — her diagnosis gave her the freedom to knock on her professor's door and redirect her research toward ADHD memory. 6. Prospective memory is defined as remembering to do a future action (like taking medication at 7 PM), as opposed to retrospective memory, which is recalling the past; ADHD disproportionately impairs prospective memory. 7. The five-step memory process where ADHD brains can fail: encoding the instruction with attention, categorizing it for storage, retaining it, retrieving it with the right cue, and closing the loop by confirming completion. 8. During her memory research, Dr. Caridi discovered that neurotypical researchers actively categorize information as it arrives — filing it under relevant mental categories — while she and all the ADHD researchers in the room had never known this was possible. 9. Time-based cues ('take medication at 7 PM') are the worst type for ADHD brains; event-based cues ('take medication with dinner') work significantly better, as confirmed by her own research on prospective memory in ADHD. 10. Her top three strategies: use multiple simultaneous cues of different types rather than the same alarm repeated; make cues physically location-relevant and personally meaningful; and do detective work to identify which of the five memory steps is the individual's consistent failure point. 11. The 'closing the loop' failure is common: ADHD people often complete a task automatically and then lie in bed wondering if they actually did it; strategies include saying the action out loud and using RFID-tagged stickers that send a self-text confirmation. 12. Dr. Caridi used her memory tools while running her university's disability services — she created an alien-sound alarm to leave meetings on time, which made the fear of forgetting her kids into something she and colleagues could laugh about. 13. Three predictors of college success regardless of prior academic performance: attending class, charging the battery (sleep and eating), and the ability to ask for help — all three are areas where ADHD creates specific friction. 14. Word retrieval failures — mid-sentence blanks — are explained by the 'seven wheels at different speeds' metaphor: one wheel slows, the word becomes inaccessible; anxiety then hits the brake on all wheels simultaneously. 15. Studies show ADHD individuals may be at higher risk for memory decline with age, but Dr. Caridi notes that studies controlling for early diagnosis see the correlation largely disappear — a significant caveat given how many women were not diagnosed before 18. 16. Dr. Caridi recommends tracking retrieval failures with beads or a counter to monitor frequency over time; significant increase is worth a neurological consultation, but hormonal changes, sleep, and fatigue should be ruled out first. 17. The episode has a collegial, peer-to-peer tone with Tracy sharing her own memory struggles throughout as real-time case studies for Dr. Caridi to analyze. 18. Dr. Caridi is warm, precise, and frequently uses concrete personal anecdotes — the water bottle heart, the alien alarm, her toddler singing 'keys, wallet, glasses' — to ground abstract memory science. 19. ADHD women who struggle with forgetting to do things, losing words mid-sentence, or feeling like their memory is deteriorating will find the most directly useful content. 20. Listeners wanting a clinical treatment episode or a personal diagnosis story rather than evidence-based memory strategy content will find this episode too technical or differently focused.

As heard by us

Memory becomes easier to hold when attention has something concrete to latch onto.

The discussion makes ADHD memory feel concrete rather than abstract, showing how attention, sequence, and repetition can help a thought stick long enough to be retrieved.

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Why you'd press play

If your reminders vanish before they land, this episode shows why attention matters more than willpower.

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