We explore the research demonstrating how our memories are optimized for remembering in survival conditions that mirror those of our ancient ancestors. Numerous laboratories have demonstrated a memory advantage for normal, everyday items when we consider those items in a survival context. Inspired by this curious phenomenon, we set out to see it for ourselves and test it further. In our ongoing research study we attempt to discern whether the survival memory advantage demonstrates an optimized brain geared for survival or if it is a matter of elaborative processing.