# Why can't I retain information?



## maybe_someday (Apr 5, 2015)

I can easily remember insignificant things, like what the exact time was that I received a call two weeks ago. Or I can usually remember details about people when they're describing themselves, and I'll be able to bring up those details months/years later. But when it comes to studying something, I forget what I've learnt within minutes. Literally. If I'm watching a documentary online, I usually have to rewind the video dozens of times just to remember what was said so I can write it down. I failed almost every test I took in school, because I could never remember anything I'd been taught. I just can't ever seem to retain information that I want to retain. I've been wanting to study for years now, but I know it would be pointless and I would just fail when I can't remember anything that I try to learn. Even if it's something I have an interest in, like animals or psychology; I can watch and read something for hours, and come away from it with no recollection of what I read or watched. It's so frustrating, I feel I'll never be able to study and work my way towards a specific field of work. Is there any way to make it easy to retain information when it seems I have the memory of a gold fish?


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## peter pettishrooms (Apr 20, 2015)

Writing things down rather than typing has been shown to be more beneficial in retaining information. Merely just reading out of a book won't have you remember important details unless you reread the same sections multiple times which no one has time for. And especially since you're an intuitive, you're likely going to overlook these details, so you're going to have to find ways to apply and test your knowledge. What helped me make sure that I absolutely knew the material was by covering key words or phrases in my notes with colored tape and having myself kind of "fill in the blanks" from memory. I would repeat the process until I answered everything correctly. Some people report that reciting things out loud over and over again has been successful too. 

I think it all comes down to identifying your learning style. If you're a visual learner for example, you're more likely to retain information with charts, graphs, pictures, and visual aids of any kind. If I'm not mistaken, it seems as if you aren't quite sure what you're preferred method of learning is.


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## Thomas60 (Aug 7, 2011)

If it's pure memory you're after, here's a checklist:
1) Were you actively conscious that you wanted to remember something after you read/heard/experienced it?
2) Did you deliberately recollect it at least once after you read/heard/experienced it?
3) Did you relate the memory to another piece of experience? e.g. I answered the phone, then I went to the shops
4) Did ask yourself how you might use the information, it's purpose?
5) Do you have a list of 'important things to remember' (did you write it down)?
6) Did you apply a creative way to memorize the information? mnemonic, a story, tell yourself to use an object or sound to trigger the memory, put information into a picture, sing it, recite it aloud.

Didn't do any?
Don't expect to remember


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## Mange (Jan 9, 2011)

Have you ever been abused? Are you clinically depressed? ADD? Anxiety? Have you had a head injury? plenty of shit can affect your ability to retain information. When youre abused at a young age, you go into a sort of shock or defensive mode. Because what good is it to remember such a traumatic experience? Suppressing the memories takes cognitive effort. So maybe while your brain is working to make these traumatic memories disappear it loses its ability for short term memory.

Depression (which maybe was caused by trauma or maybe its your fucked up brain chemistry) literally has the effect it has on you spelled out (fucking depressed) dimmed. Dulled. Down. If your body isn't producing the proper hormones youre not able to regulate thoughts or emotions as well, your brain is struggling and therefore your mind is "struggling" its like when you're physically sick and your body hurts and you Dont want to move. Your fucking brain is sick and doesnt work properly. Its already working hard enough on your regular bodily functions and you're missing an essential chemical to allow it to maintain your cognitive functions. So you're moving slower.

ADD and ADHD are related to your attention shifting rapidly from one thing to another, so maybe you're trying to learn something in a documentary, but you're also thinking about 500 other things and drawing in a notebook and tapping your fucking feet to a rhythm in your head. So later on when you attempt to recall what you learned its just bits and pieces because your head was in so many places at once. Figuratively.


But its okay if you have ADD or ADHD or are depressed or brain damaged slightly. What matters is that you're not a fucking psychopathic cunt all over the internet because you spend an inordinate amount of time trying to make someone feel like as much of a piece of shit as you literally Are. Figuratively, of course. 

Try to accept and be okay with yourself and that's all and remember the haters are fucking bums who can go choke on a fat one and probably do except they're not fat they're fucking tiny. Its basically like flossing their teeth. But its also sweaty.


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## Peter (Feb 27, 2010)

maybe_someday said:


> I can easily remember insignificant things, like what the exact time was that I received a call two weeks ago. Or I can usually remember details about people when they're describing themselves, and I'll be able to bring up those details months/years later. But when it comes to studying something, I forget what I've learnt within minutes. Literally. If I'm watching a documentary online, I usually have to rewind the video dozens of times just to remember what was said so I can write it down. I failed almost every test I took in school, because I could never remember anything I'd been taught. I just can't ever seem to retain information that I want to retain. I've been wanting to study for years now, but I know it would be pointless and I would just fail when I can't remember anything that I try to learn. Even if it's something I have an interest in, like animals or psychology; I can watch and read something for hours, and come away from it with no recollection of what I read or watched. It's so frustrating, I feel I'll never be able to study and work my way towards a specific field of work. Is there any way to make it easy to retain information when it seems I have the memory of a gold fish?


You seem to think that having heard or read or seen something once should be enough to remember it forever...... Unless you´re some kind of savant, that's not how it works.


Practice in case of learning things that require understanding and repetition in case of just having to remember facts. That's how you learn and then retain things.

Now aren't those the 2 most boring things to do in life? :smile:

All you have to do is figure out a way to make those 2 things fun to do.


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## aef8234 (Feb 18, 2012)

I don't remember the specifics of the cognitive research, but the findings was that you can remember 7-ish things per sitting, whether it be 7 letters, 7 words, or 7 sentences.

What I'm trying to say is remember things in clumps, it might hel-


ACTUALLY, reading your blurb, I think it might have to do more with motivation than anything, considering you don't remember details and studying information.


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## janpers (Jul 10, 2016)

You have to reinforce everything you learn, and it's not just you. Google the Cornell Note-Taking System. If you get out of a lecture and have free time immediately afterwards and take 20 minutes to go through the lecture notes you just took, and try to think about the material in various ways, then you will retain the material in the best way possible. Then review again at slightly longer intervals. And keep doing that until the exam.

I have a young relative and I bought her a Sakura Memorization Study Set, which is basically an orange-red pen and an orange-red transparency sheet. It's popular in Japan and you can get it for about $6 in the US at certain online stores. The way it's used is that you write a sentence with most of the words in black/blue/purple ink or whatever you usually write with - but with key words/information you want to remember, you use the special orange-red pen. When it's time to review, you put the transparency over your writing, and the key information is invisible, and that forces you to think of the answer. Remove the sheet to look at the answer.

And get enough sleep. That's when information is transferred to long-term memory.


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## Schizoid (Jan 31, 2015)

maybe_someday said:


> I can easily remember insignificant things, like what the exact time was that I received a call two weeks ago. Or I can usually remember details about people when they're describing themselves, and I'll be able to bring up those details months/years later. But when it comes to studying something, I forget what I've learnt within minutes. Literally. If I'm watching a documentary online, I usually have to rewind the video dozens of times just to remember what was said so I can write it down. I failed almost every test I took in school, because I could never remember anything I'd been taught. I just can't ever seem to retain information that I want to retain. I've been wanting to study for years now, but I know it would be pointless and I would just fail when I can't remember anything that I try to learn. Even if it's something I have an interest in, like animals or psychology; I can watch and read something for hours, and come away from it with no recollection of what I read or watched. It's so frustrating, I feel I'll never be able to study and work my way towards a specific field of work. Is there any way to make it easy to retain information when it seems I have the memory of a gold fish?



Try visualizing those information instead?

Whenever I have to memorize for exams, I'll visualize all my notes and textbooks into images, I'll photocopy those pages of words into my mind, and then I memorized everything using my visual memory.


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## yet another intj (Feb 10, 2013)

There's no such thing as learning things for the sake of learning them. There should be a personal meaning/an emotional motivator with a functional aspect. By the way, it could be very indirect or ridiculously inefficient.

Every type have different learning methods... It can be an obsession for physically touching and manipulating mechanical structures to understand their logic (ISTP), recognizing the fragile relationships in nature by similarities to protect them (INFP), thinking outside the box to figure out opportunities (ENTP), etc.

No matter how you roll, you will only remember to keep learning. If you don't feel like learning more, there will be no chase. That's the universal foundation of human memory.


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## Penny (Mar 24, 2016)

maybe_someday said:


> I can easily remember insignificant things, like what the exact time was that I received a call two weeks ago. Or I can usually remember details about people when they're describing themselves, and I'll be able to bring up those details months/years later. But when it comes to studying something, I forget what I've learnt within minutes. Literally. If I'm watching a documentary online, I usually have to rewind the video dozens of times just to remember what was said so I can write it down. I failed almost every test I took in school, because I could never remember anything I'd been taught. I just can't ever seem to retain information that I want to retain. I've been wanting to study for years now, but I know it would be pointless and I would just fail when I can't remember anything that I try to learn. Even if it's something I have an interest in, like animals or psychology; I can watch and read something for hours, and come away from it with no recollection of what I read or watched. It's so frustrating, I feel I'll never be able to study and work my way towards a specific field of work. Is there any way to make it easy to retain information when it seems I have the memory of a gold fish?


well, something i learned that i think is true is that when you are reading (i assume it might go with listening too) if you come across a word you don't know and don't stop to look it up, you lose all the meaning of the next few paragraphs at least. like nothing you read after that unknown word will stick unless they change the topic.

it is also said that people have different learning styles: 
Visual learning
Auditory learning
Read/write learning
Kinesthetic learning
Fleming claimed that visual learners have a preference for seeing (visual aids that represent ideas using methods other than words, such as graphs, charts, diagrams, symbols, etc.). Auditory learners best learn through listening (lectures, discussions, tapes, etc.). Tactile/kinesthetic learners prefer to learn via experience—moving, touching, and doing (active exploration of the world, science projects, experiments, etc.). Students can use the model to identify their preferred learning style and, it is claimed, maximize their learning by focusing on the mode that benefits them the most.
-Maybe if you figure out which style you learn best at you can focus on that type of learning.


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## Rascal01 (May 22, 2016)

See a doctor and have your vitamin levels checked. Vitamins B and D can play a role in lack of memory. I couldn't recall where I put things down, such as tools while working on something. Vitamin supplements corrected the problem. I was low on D.


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