Psychology Cognitive Science

Memory and Forgetting

A practical introduction to how memory works, why we forget, and how to remember more effectively

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Quick Course Facts
18
Self-paced, Online, Lessons
18
Videos and/or Narrated Presentations
5.8
Approximate Hours of Course Media
About the Memory and Forgetting Course

This course, Memory and Forgetting, offers a practical introduction to how memory works, why we forget, and how to remember more effectively. Grounded in Psychology, it helps students understand the science behind everyday memory while building strategies they can use in studying, work, and daily life.

Explore Psychology To Understand Memory And Forgetting

  • Learn A Practical Introduction To How Memory Works, Why We Forget, And How To Remember More Effectively
  • Build a clear understanding of memory systems, retrieval, and the factors that shape recall
  • Discover how emotion, sleep, stress, and lifespan changes influence remembering
  • Apply memory science to studying smarter and reducing everyday memory failures

Memory and Forgetting explains the science of retention, recall, and the limits of human memory.

Students begin with the foundations of human memory and move through attention, encoding, sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory. Along the way, the course shows how memories are formed, stored, and brought back to mind, while also examining why some information fades or becomes harder to access over time. This is a valuable Psychology course for anyone who wants a stronger grasp of how the mind handles information.

The course also explores the major causes of forgetting, including interference, decay, disuse, and the role of cues and context in triggering recall. Students will see why memory is not a perfect recording, but a constructive process that can be shaped by suggestion, confidence, and false memories. These lessons help learners understand memory errors in real life and in important settings such as eyewitness testimony.

By the end of the course, students will know how emotion, sleep, stress, and age affect retention, and they will be able to use memory science to study more effectively and build lasting habits. After taking this course, students will think more carefully about how memory works, recognize common errors more easily, and use practical strategies to improve memory long term.

Course Lessons

Full lesson breakdown

Lessons are organized by topic area and each includes descriptive copy for search visibility and student clarity.

Foundations of Human Memory

1 lesson

Lesson 1: What Is Memory?

18 min Preview
Memory is the process that allows us to encode , store , and retrieve information so we can use past experience in the present. It is not a single mental “file cabinet,” but a set of interconnected sy…

How Memories Begin

1 lesson

Lesson 2: Attention and Encoding

20 min
Memory does not begin with storage. It begins with attention : what you notice, focus on, and process at the moment an experience happens. In this lesson, learners explore how attention acts as a gate…

The Memory System

1 lesson

Lesson 3: Sensory, Short-Term, and Working Memory

20 min
This lesson explains the three closely related parts of the memory system: sensory memory , short-term memory , and working memory . You will learn what each system does, how long information stays th…

What Persists Over Time

1 lesson

Lesson 4: Long-Term Memory

19 min
Long-term memory is the part of memory that stores information over extended periods of time, from hours to years. In this lesson, we focus on what long-term memory is, how it differs from short-term …

Accessing Stored Information

1 lesson

Lesson 5: Retrieval and Recall

18 min
Retrieval and recall are the processes of bringing stored information back into awareness when you need it. In this lesson, you’ll learn why remembering is often easier with the right cue, why recall …

Core Causes of Forgetting

1 lesson

Lesson 6: Why We Forget

20 min
Forgetting is not a single process, and it is not always a sign that memory is failing. In this lesson, we focus on the core reasons information becomes hard to retrieve: decay over time, interference…

One Memory Blocking Another

1 lesson

Lesson 7: Interference: When Memories Compete

18 min
Interference is one of the most common reasons we fail to recall something even when the memory is still there. In this lesson, students learn how other memories can compete with the one they want, ma…

What Happens to Unused Memories

1 lesson

Lesson 8: Decay, Disuse, and Accessibility

17 min
This lesson explains why some memories seem to fade when we do not use them and why forgetting is not always the same as loss. You will learn the difference between memory decay, disuse, and accessibi…

How Memory Is Triggered

1 lesson

Lesson 9: The Role of Cues and Context

19 min
This lesson explains how cues and context help memory come to mind. We remember best when the situation at recall overlaps with the situation in which we learned something, because the mind uses surro…

Why Memory Is Rebuilt, Not Replayed

1 lesson

Lesson 10: Constructive Memory and Distortion

21 min
Memory is not a perfect recording system. Each time we remember, the brain rebuilds the event using stored fragments, expectations, and context. That makes memory useful and flexible, but it also make…

Errors, Suggestion, and Confidence

1 lesson

Lesson 11: False Memories

20 min
False memories are memories that feel real but are inaccurate or entirely invented. They can arise from suggestion, leading questions, imagination, and the brain’s natural tendency to fill in gaps. In…

Why Emotional Events Stand Out

1 lesson

Lesson 12: Emotion and Memory

18 min
Emotional events often feel more memorable because they capture attention, trigger stronger physiological arousal, and are processed more deeply than ordinary events. In this lesson, we look at why em…

Biology of Retention

1 lesson

Lesson 13: Sleep, Stress, and Consolidation

20 min
Sleep and stress strongly shape how well memories are consolidated after learning. Consolidation is the process that stabilizes new information so it is less fragile and more likely to last. In this l…

Childhood, Adulthood, and Aging

1 lesson

Lesson 14: Memory Across the Lifespan

19 min
Memory changes across the lifespan, but it does not simply get worse with age. In childhood, memory skills develop rapidly as attention, language, and strategy use improve. In adulthood, memory is sha…

Applied Learning Strategies

1 lesson

Lesson 15: Studying Smarter with Memory Science

22 min
Studying effectively is less about “having a good memory” and more about using the brain in ways that support long-term retention. In this lesson, you’ll learn why common study habits like rereading a…

Forgetting in Real Life

1 lesson

Lesson 16: Everyday Memory Failures

18 min
In everyday life, memory failures usually look ordinary: a name slips away, an item is left behind, a task is forgotten, or a detail is recalled incorrectly. This lesson focuses on those common failur…

Memory in the Legal Context

1 lesson

Lesson 17: Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Errors

21 min
Eyewitness testimony can be powerful in court, but it is not a perfect record of events. Memory is reconstructive, which means people can unintentionally fill gaps, mix details from different sources,…

Building Durable Retention Habits

1 lesson

Lesson 18: Improving Memory Long Term

20 min
Long-term memory is not built by cramming—it is built by repeated, meaningful retrieval over time. In this lesson, students learn the habits that make memories last: spacing study sessions, testing yo…
About Your Instructor
Professor Bo Bennett

Professor Bo Bennett

Professor Bo Bennett guides this AI-built Virversity course with a clear, practical teaching style.