June 27, 2026, began like an ordinary day for veteran American journalist Katie Couric. She was in Aspen, Colorado, where she had been invited to take part in the Aspen Ideas Festival, and started the morning with a visit to the local farmers' market.
"There was nothing all that unusual about that Saturday morning," she later wrote in a post recounting the episode. "John, my husband, went to work out, so I walked into town from his parents’ condo in Aspen to go to the weekly farmer’s market and get some iced coffee. I bought some beautiful peaches and nectarines, a big bag of kettle corn and a cute straw hat I really didn’t need. I headed back, ate a bowl of cereal with one of the peaches, and got dressed for an afternoon at the Aspen Ideas Festival. I decided to wear a white linen suit, a navy and white knit sleeveless shirt, and my new hat. John drove with me to the campus of the Aspen Institute and was excited to go to the hot dog stand for lunch. That’s the last thing I remember."
Couric, 69, is one of the best-known figures in American broadcast journalism. She spent 15 years co-hosting NBC’s Today before moving to CBS, where she became the first woman to serve as the sole anchor of a major U.S. network evening newscast.
She had been invited to Aspen for two sessions: one moderating a panel on artificial intelligence and another discussing the future of journalism.
What happened afterward is something she knows only from what others told her. Couric went onstage, participated in both sessions as planned and appeared to function normally. Only after the second panel did her husband notice that she seemed weak, dizzy and “not quite herself,” and decided to take her to a local hospital.
During the initial examination, doctors asked her the date and the name of the current president, but she got it wrong. "I wasn't sure of the month. I thought it was 2024. And I believed Joe Biden was president", she wrote.
Even more concerning to doctors was that she could not remember that a granddaughter had recently been born. She repeatedly asked the same questions and reintroduced herself to nurses each time they entered the room.
Doctors initially suspected a stroke, but an MRI ruled that out. After further testing, Couric was diagnosed with transient global amnesia, or TGA, a condition that causes temporary short-term memory loss. Doctors told her the episode would resolve by the following day.
“The cause seems to be as mysterious as the brain itself,” she wrote. Couric said someone later described the experience to her as though her brain had simply failed to press the record button. "I have no idea what we talked about, or of what occurred when the panels ended," she wrote.
Couric ended her account with mixed emotions. “It was a strange and frightening event, but it could have been much more serious,” she wrote, adding that she ultimately felt relieved, even though a few hours from that Saturday in June would always be missing from her memory.
Function remains intact, but the memory disappears
Couric’s experience has drawn attention to TGA, a relatively little-known neurological condition that can be extremely frightening. During an episode, a person may appear fully functional while being unable to retain what is happening around them.
“The resemblance to symptoms of a stroke makes awareness of the condition and accurate diagnosis even more important,” said Dr. Jeremy Molad, deputy director of the Neurology Division and senior deputy director of the Stroke Neurology Department at Tel Aviv Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center.
How can someone talk, function and participate in a discussion, yet remember none of what happened?
“Transient global amnesia is a condition in which there is a temporary disruption in the brain’s ability to create new memories,” Molad said. “Simply put, the brain fails to record what is happening at that moment. The person therefore will not be able to retrieve those memories later, not because they exist but are inaccessible, but because the memory was never recorded in the first place.”
Katie Couric
(Photo: Jenny Anderson/Stringer/GettyImages)
How common is it?
“It is not as common as stroke, but it is not especially rare either. We are talking about roughly five cases per 100,000 people per year. Translated to Israel, that amounts to around 500 cases annually, so this is certainly not an extremely rare condition. The most common ages are between 50 and 70, and there is no significant difference between men and women.”
What exactly happens in the brain?
“The hypothesis is that there is a temporary disruption in the functioning of the hippocampus, the area of the brain largely responsible for creating and processing new memories. But we still do not really know why TGA occurs. There are quite a few theories, but none has been conclusively proven.”
Have any triggers been identified that might explain it?
“The medical literature describes numerous triggers, both physical and emotional, but none has been proven to be a significant cause, and there is no single trigger we can point to and say causes TGA or that people should avoid.
“We see a wide variety of circumstances preceding an episode, including physical exertion, emotional stress and sexual intercourse. But these are so common in everyday life that it is very difficult to define them as clear risk factors.”
You say memories are simply not recorded, but Couric also could not answer basic questions such as what year it was or who the president was. Is that typical?
“During the event itself, the memory impairment can be broader. Sometimes the person also has difficulty orienting themselves in time or recalling general information. But once the episode passes, what usually remains is a memory gap limited to the hours during which it occurred.”
What can confuse people around the patient is that the person may appear to function completely normally.
“That is one of the most striking features of TGA. During the episode, general functioning remains intact. People speak normally, walk, perform complex tasks and behave in a way that appears almost entirely normal.
“What usually gives the condition away is that they ask the same questions over and over because they cannot remember having asked them just moments earlier or receiving an answer.
“I had a patient who, during an episode, prepared a large pot of soup for her family, just as she did every Friday. She cooked it normally and without any apparent difficulty. When her family came home, they found the soup on the stove, but she had no memory of making it.
“Another patient experienced an episode while at a bridge club. She played and even won the game. It was only when she returned home that her family realized something was wrong because she did not remember playing bridge at all.
“In both cases, nothing dramatic had happened, but family members noticed the confusion and repeated questions and called Magen David Adom, which took them to the emergency room for immediate evaluation.
Because they feared a stroke?
“Yes, because in both cases there was sudden memory loss. As I mentioned, the key difference is that with TGA the impairment is almost always limited to memory, while all other functions remain intact. With stroke, by contrast, there is usually another impairment as well, involving speech, movement, vision or other neurological functions.
“It is very rare, although not impossible, for a stroke to present as sudden memory loss alone. Another important difference is that TGA always resolves without permanent damage, while a stroke can cause lasting neurological injury.
Dr. Jeremy Molad
(Photo: Roman Hremer)
“Still, it is impossible to make a definitive diagnosis at home. In rare cases, a stroke or seizure can initially resemble TGA. That is why anyone who develops such symptoms should go immediately to the emergency room, where doctors perform a full neurological examination as well as imaging to make sure a rare presentation of stroke is not being missed.
“In most cases, the patient is admitted for brief observation to make sure the symptoms resolve and that there is no other condition involved, and is then discharged without any need for permanent treatment.
“As for future risk, someone who has experienced TGA has a slightly higher chance than the general population of having another episode, but the overall likelihood remains very low. In the overwhelming majority of cases, it happens only once.”
Beyond its similarity to stroke, the condition also raises a broader question about memory. We all become more forgetful as we age. When should someone realize that something unusual is happening and seek medical attention?
“That is an excellent question. Ultimately, all of us become a little less sharp with age. A 70-year-old will not remember things exactly as they did at 20, and that is completely natural. But there are several warning signs worth watching for. The first is rapid deterioration. If someone was functioning well and, over a period of days, weeks or months, shows a significant decline in memory or functioning, that warrants investigation.
“Another factor is the severity of the problem. Occasionally forgetting a name or where you parked is common, but it becomes more concerning when memory problems begin to interfere with everyday life, such as managing finances, continuing to work, remembering recent actions or carrying out routine tasks.
“If memory appears to be getting progressively worse, particularly if the change is noticeable to family or friends, it is worth consulting a neurologist.
“It is important to emphasize that today, unlike in the past, there are treatments that can help prevent or slow memory decline in many cases. Seeing a neurologist can therefore provide not only a diagnosis, but also an opportunity for treatment.
Back to TGA, what is the most important message you want people to understand?
“The main message is that while TGA can be frightening, it resolves without causing permanent damage. Still, it cannot be diagnosed at home, since similar symptoms can also signal more serious conditions.
“Any sudden confusion or memory loss requires immediate evaluation in the emergency room. If doctors determine that it is TGA, however, patients and their families can be reassured that the condition is temporary and causes no lasting damage.”