MEPX
Chapter 1 of 10All chapters
  1. 1How memory works
  2. 2Working memory
  3. 3Retrieval practice
  4. 4Spacing and interleaving
  5. 5Sleep and consolidation
  6. 6Study myths
  7. 7Understanding and elaboration
  8. 8Learning skills
  9. 9Memory techniques
  10. 10Putting it together

Chapter 1 of 10

How memory works

Encode, store, retrieve.

Three stages

Information is encoded, stored and later retrieved. Most forgetting is a retrieval failure rather than a loss, which is why a cue can restore something apparently gone.

  • Deeper processing at encoding produces better retrieval later.
  • Retrieval itself strengthens a memory, more than restudying does.

Types

Working memory holds a few items briefly. Long-term memory divides into facts and events, and into skills you perform without describing. They behave differently and fail differently.