Journalist Katie Couric recently shared her experience of sudden memory loss that persisted for several hours during a recent trip to Colorado. Doctors diagnosed the episode as transient global amnesia, a temporary condition that stops new memories from forming for a short period of time.
"It was Saturday, June 27, 2026," Couric wrote in a Substack post. "But when I was asked the month, the year, and who was president, I got them wrong. I wasn't sure of the month. I thought it was 2024. And I believed Joe Biden was president."
Couric, who is 69, wrote that she was briefly hospitalized after losing memory of much of that day while attending the Aspen Ideas Festival. She said she remembers the day until "about noon," but everything through at least 7 p.m. remains "a big, black hole."
Couric appeared on two panels that afternoon, but has no recollection of either discussion or what happened afterward. Her husband noticed that she seemed weak and dizzy after her final appearance and took her to the hospital. An MRI showed no evidence of a stroke and she subsequently was diagnosed with transient global amnesia.
Transient global amnesia is a temporary problem in which a person can't recall recent events. Episodes often come on suddenly, usually in middle-age or older adults. The person is awake, alert, and able to think clearly in most ways, but can't form new memories for several hours.
