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How learning works · Lesson 2 of 11

How Memory Works: Take It In, Keep It, Get It Back

Learn the three stages of memory in plain words, and two simple habits that follow: ask what new things mean, then recall them later.

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You don’t need to be a scientist to use your memory well, but knowing a few basic steps helps. This lesson explains how memory works, in plain words, and shows why the study habits in this course work.

Three stages: take it in, keep it, get it back

Memory works in three stages. First you take something in. Then you keep it over time. Then you get it back when you need it. Researchers call these stages encodingencoding: The first stage of memory, in which an experience is turned into a form the brain can store. How deeply something is processed at that stage, such as thinking about its meaning, affects how well it can be recalled later.Full entry in the glossary, storage and retrieval. Every act of remembering needs all three, and if any stage fails, you forget.

Three numbered circles on a line under the heading Three stages: 1 Take it in, 2 Keep it, 3 Get it back. A coral question mark sits on the line between 2 and 3, and a label below says Any stage can fail.(opens the full-size picture)
Remembering needs all three stages to work.

A name at a party

Picture meeting someone at a party. She tells you her name, and you link it to her face. That is taking it in. You hold on to that link for a week. That is keeping it. Then you see her again, and her face has to bring back the name. That is getting it back.

If the name does not come, one of the three stages has slipped. Often it is hard to tell which one.

A party scene with bunting. An Example card shows a drawn woman's face, joined by a dashed line to a faded name card that says Sara, with A week later on a small calendar above. Below, the three stages Take it in, Keep it and Get it back, with Keep it circled in coral.(opens the full-size picture)
A week later, her face has to bring the name back.

Meaning sticks

How you take something in matters a lot. In a classic experiment, students answered quick questions about single words. When they thought about what a word meant, they later recognized nearly all of the words. When they only noticed how the word was printed, such as whether it was in capital letters, they recognized fewer than one in five.

The lesson for you: when you meet something new, ask what it means and how it connects to what you already know. How a page looks is the part that fades.

Two rows, each starting with the Example word apple. In the top row, the question What does it mean? leads to Nearly all, with a check. In the bottom row, How does it look? leads to a faded box that says Fewer than 1 in 5. A label below reads Meaning sticks.(opens the full-size picture)
The same word, two kinds of question, very different results.

A small workspace

While you think, your mind holds only a few things at once. One leading researcher puts it at about four. Researchers call this small space working memoryworking memory: The small mental workspace that holds and handles the information you are using right now, such as a phone number you are about to dial. Its capacity is limited, which is why juggling several things at once quickly overloads it.Full entry in the glossary. It is where you hold the start of a sentence while you read its end, or a running total while you add up a bill.

When it fills up, things fall out. So write things down to free some room: a note on paper is one thing fewer to hold in your head.

A tray with four slots under the number 4: a circle, a square and a triangle fill three, and the fourth is empty. The text reads Working memory: about four. A notepad and pencil sit on the right, and a label says Write the overflow down.(opens the full-size picture)
When the workspace is full, paper takes the overflow.

Not a video recording

Many people think memory works like a video camera that records events to play back later. In one American survey, about six in ten adults agreed. The memory experts asked all disagreed.

Your mind rebuilds a memory from pieces each time you recall it, a bit like putting together a scene from a few remembered tiles. That is why a memory can change: details you hear about later can even slip into it.

A crossed-out video camera tagged Myth, above a survey of American adults and memory experts: about 6 in 10 adults agreed, none of the experts did. On the right, an Example grid of six tiles: sun, cloud, birds, waves, a sailboat and a shell. A label says Rebuilt, not replayed.(opens the full-size picture)
A memory is put back together each time, not played back.

Each recall makes it stronger

There is good news too. Each time you pull a memory back out, it becomes easier to pull out again. Researchers call this the testing effect. So getting a memory back is not only a check of what you know. It is also practice that makes the memory stronger.

A glowing card with a check rises out of a drawer, under the heading Recall makes it stronger. On the right, a label reads The testing effect, the third stage Get it back is highlighted, and two labels say A check plus Practice.(opens the full-size picture)
Getting a memory back is a check and practice at the same time.

Two habits that follow

Two simple habits come from these stages. First, when you meet something new, ask what it means. Later, try to recall it from memory, instead of reading it again.

Two cards under the heading Two habits. Card 1, First: Ask what it means, with an apple in a thought bubble. Card 2, Later: Recall it, with an Example book, a written page and pencil, and Read again crossed out. A note below says Most experiments: students in a lab.(opens the full-size picture)
Ask what it means first, then recall it later.

A fair note

Most of these experiments involved students in a lab, often learning single words. Treat them as good guides for your own study, not guarantees.

YOUR TURN

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Read the full lesson script

In this lesson, you will see how memory works, in plain words. Knowing the basic steps shows you why the study habits in this course work.

Memory works in three stages. First you take something in. Then you keep it over time. Then you get it back when you need it. If any stage fails, you forget.

Picture meeting someone at a party. You link her name to her face. A week later, you see her again, and her face has to bring back the name. If it does not, one of the three stages has slipped.

How you take something in matters. In a classic experiment, students who thought about what a word meant later recognized nearly all of them. When they only noticed how the word was printed, they recognized fewer than one in five.

While you think, your mind holds only a few things at once. One leading researcher puts it at about four. Researchers call this small space working memory. When it fills up, write things down to free some room.

Many people think memory works like a video camera. In one American survey, about six in ten adults agreed. The memory experts asked all disagreed. Your mind rebuilds a memory from pieces each time, so it can change.

There is good news too. Each time you pull a memory back out, it becomes easier to pull out again. Researchers call this the testing effect. Getting it back is not only a check. It is also practice.

So two habits follow. When you first meet something new, ask what it means. Later, try to recall it, instead of reading it again. Most of these experiments involved students in a lab.

So, memory takes in, keeps, and gets back, and meaning and recall make it stronger. Today, after you read something, close it and say what it meant, not what it looked like. Next, you will test yourself instead of rereading.