why we forget and how to remember
AN D H OW TO
REMEMBER
Unless you have a photographic memory, you likely find it hard to remember everything you learn, even an hour or two after you learn it.
Why? Research about how we remember and forget gives us a clue.
01
HOW QUICKLY
WE FORGET
19th century psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus created the “Forgetting Curve” after studying how quickly he learned, then forgot, a series of three-letter trigrams. Here’s what he discovered:
In the time it takes to make and drink a cup of coffee, you’ll forget
42% of what you learned.
42%
20 MIN
56%
In about the time it takes to watch your favorite TV show, you’ll forget 56% of what you learned.
1 HOUR
During the course of a normal workday, you’ll forget 64% of what you learned.
64%
9 HOURS
25%
LESS THAN
A WEEK
In less than a week, you’ll only remember 25% of what you learned.
02
WHY WE
FORGET
Our brains are hardwired to recall important facts.
The process that determines what you remember and what you forget makes recalling every single detail nearly impossible.
MEMORY DECAY
When you learn something, a new memory “trace” is created. But if you don’t rehearse and repeat what you’ve learned, memories decay and fade.
INTERFERENCE
Old memories and new information compete with and distort the formation of new memories, making it difficult to remember what’s new.
FAILURE TO STORE
Some information is never transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory—especially details that are likely to be unimportant.
MEMORY REPRESSION
Memories of traumatic or disturbing events can be suppressed as a means of coping with difficult situations.
03
In the century since Ebbinghaus discovered the
Forgetting Curve, scientists have suggested several things you can do to reverse its effects:
SLEEP
During slow-wave and REM sleep, memories are transferred from temporary storage in the hippocampus to more permanent memory around the cortex.
NOVELTY
Learning in creative or unfamiliar circumstances, or in new ways, is
REMEMBER
Unless you have a photographic memory, you likely find it hard to remember everything you learn, even an hour or two after you learn it.
Why? Research about how we remember and forget gives us a clue.
01
HOW QUICKLY
WE FORGET
19th century psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus created the “Forgetting Curve” after studying how quickly he learned, then forgot, a series of three-letter trigrams. Here’s what he discovered:
In the time it takes to make and drink a cup of coffee, you’ll forget
42% of what you learned.
42%
20 MIN
56%
In about the time it takes to watch your favorite TV show, you’ll forget 56% of what you learned.
1 HOUR
During the course of a normal workday, you’ll forget 64% of what you learned.
64%
9 HOURS
25%
LESS THAN
A WEEK
In less than a week, you’ll only remember 25% of what you learned.
02
WHY WE
FORGET
Our brains are hardwired to recall important facts.
The process that determines what you remember and what you forget makes recalling every single detail nearly impossible.
MEMORY DECAY
When you learn something, a new memory “trace” is created. But if you don’t rehearse and repeat what you’ve learned, memories decay and fade.
INTERFERENCE
Old memories and new information compete with and distort the formation of new memories, making it difficult to remember what’s new.
FAILURE TO STORE
Some information is never transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory—especially details that are likely to be unimportant.
MEMORY REPRESSION
Memories of traumatic or disturbing events can be suppressed as a means of coping with difficult situations.
03
In the century since Ebbinghaus discovered the
Forgetting Curve, scientists have suggested several things you can do to reverse its effects:
SLEEP
During slow-wave and REM sleep, memories are transferred from temporary storage in the hippocampus to more permanent memory around the cortex.
NOVELTY
Learning in creative or unfamiliar circumstances, or in new ways, is