Cognitive changes are a common part of living with multiple sclerosis, but they can be confusing and frustrating. Many people feel like their memory is slipping, when in reality, the challenge is often with accessing information—especially in the moment. Forgetting why you walked into a room or struggling to find the right word in conversation are very real experiences in MS, and they're more about how the brain processes and retrieves information than a loss of intelligence or knowledge. New insights are helping us better understand why this happens, including the role of inflammation and how today's treatments may be helping keep cognition more stable over time.

In this episode, Dr. James Sumowski breaks down what's happening in the brain, including why word-finding problems are so common and what "working memory" really means in everyday life. Speech-language pathologist Dr. Marissa Barrera then shares practical, easy-to-use strategies to support memory and communication from simple ways to make information more memorable, to talking around a missing word, and creating routines that reduce mental overload. Together, they offer both clarity and actionable tools to help you think more clearly, communicate more confidently, and navigate cognitive challenges day to day.

Barry Singer, MD, Director of The MS Center for Innovations in Care, interviews:

James F. Sumowski, PhD, Associate Professor of Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York

Marissa Barrera, PhD, MSCS, CCC-SLP, Assistant Dean of Health Sciences, Katz School of Science and Health, Yeshiva University, New York