SAM KAPLAN For anyone who’s had to search their mind for a word or a detail (all of us!), it may be a surprise to hear that, according to brain health experts, memory isn’t everything. So why is it the first or only thing we worry about? “People don’t really care about performing better on some mental test,” says Gary Small, M.D., chair of psychiatry at Hackensack University Medical Center, behavioral health physician-in-chief at Hackensack Meridian Health, and the author of The Memory Bible. “They want to remember their grocery list. When they’re walking down the street and see someone they know, they want to remember that person’s name so they don’t have to say, ‘Hi, um, how are you?’ and can say, ‘Hi, Mary, how are you doing?’ ”