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I am a currently a 23 year-old pre-med student and I am worried because I tend to forget things easily.

To give you some examples: in class, I miss out on a lot of the information and in my every day life, I can't remember names of movies, actors. Things "slip out" of my mind a lot.

I have realised that distraction makes it even worse.

Interestingly, if something is logical, it will stick in my brain, but if its pure memorization, I most likely won't remember it.

I would like to know which factors influence the memorization in a young adult?

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    Memorization is a skill, and like all skills it can be learned. Find a book on memorization techniques and read it. This isn't a health question.
    – Carey Gregory ♦
    Sep 1, 2016 at 14:10
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    is this new? memory loss may be a symptom (eg of sleep deprivation or overdrinking, two common things in students.) If it's not new, it's off topic here, Personal Productivity might ne helpful though.
    – Kate Gregory
    Sep 2, 2016 at 17:31
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    @Carey Gregory. I have tried to edit the question (by taking into account the suggestion made by JJosaur) to make it look more general. What do you think? Thank you. Best regards. M. Arrowsmith.
    – M. Arrowsmith
    Sep 3, 2016 at 20:30
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    @JagmeetSingh. I am not sure what you understand by I didn't ask a question? Before my edit of your question, you asked Why do I forget easily, isn't this a question? Also, I am confused by your statement "I guess what I really wanted to know was that is this a medical condition " but you then add "Not seeking a medical advice". Tbh, I don't really see the difference. And finally, if you find the time to read my answer carefully as well as the links provided, you would realise that there are a lot of factors possibly affecting memory and you are certainly not an isolated case. BR
    – M. Arrowsmith
    Sep 11, 2016 at 8:49
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    @JagmeetSingh. if someone told me to do something in 20 minutes, it would slip out of my mind, There is no memorization involved I believe. If this has nothing to do with memorization, could you explain me what it is and the neurobiological pathways involved then? From my knowledge/experience, this is linked to memorization. Similar with your sentence I would get distracted with some thoughts and just forget to take it. Tbh I think you should have a look at a Neuroscience book (e.g Kandel Principles of Neuroscience) and have some lecture on the pathways involved in memorization. BR
    – M. Arrowsmith
    Sep 11, 2016 at 8:59

1 Answer 1

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Memory is a complex cognitive function which relies on several neuronal pathways. Without wanting to go into too much details, the process of memorization is dependent on three different steps: encoding, storage and retrieval.

Different brain regions are involved in the process of memorisation: hippocampus and mamillary bodies are the main brain regions (which get also affected in Alzheimer's Disease or Korsakof Disease) but other regions have been reported to be involved in the process such as the striatum or the amygdala.

As complex as it is, the different steps of memorization can be influenced by diseases but also by different other "factors" such as (non exhaustive list):

So to summarise: difficulty in memorization can be multifactorial. You might wish considering one of those above mentionned factors and try to work on them.

P.S: you tagged your question with "dementia". I have already answered a similar question for someone aged 30-40, you might have a look here: Dementia in late 30s, early 40s? Tests?

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