Mechanism family · v2 taxonomy

Memory & retrieval

Patterns involving encoding, recall, reconstruction, source memory, and forgetting.

Reviewed mapping

50 canonical entries currently belong to this family.

This hub combines direct category mappings with record-level reviews. Duplicate aliases and ambiguous entries stay outside the family discovery layer.

Memory BiasBizarreness Effect – when weird things stick in memory better than ordinary onesthe tendency to recall unusual information more easily than common information.Read entry Memory BiasBoundary Extension – when your memory ‘zooms out’ beyond what you actually sawthe tendency to remember the background of an image as more expansive than it really was.Read entry Memory BiasChildhood Amnesia – why we forget our earliest yearsthe natural inability to retain memories from the first few years of life.Read entry Memory BiasConservatism Bias – when your memory downplays extremesthe tendency to recall high values (like probability or frequency) as lower than they were and low values as higher.Read entry Memory BiasConsistency Bias – when you believe you’ve always thought the way you do nowthe tendency to remember past beliefs and behaviors as being consistent with your current ones.Read entry Memory BiasContext Effect – when memories depend on where and how you recall themthe tendency for memory to work better in the same environment where the information was learned.Read entry Memory BiasContinued Influence Effect – when corrected information still shapes reasoningThe Continued Influence Effect happens when false or outdated information still affects later reasoning after a person has been told that it is wrong. A correction can help and theRead entry Memory BiasCross-Race Effect – when faces of other races seem harder to tell apartthe tendency to have difficulty recognizing and differentiating faces of other racial or ethnic groups.Read entry Memory BiasCryptomnesia – when you think you came up with something new, but it’s actually an old memorywhen a forgotten memory resurfaces as an original thought because you don’t recognize it as a memory.Read entry Memory BiasEgocentric Bias – when your past seems better than it really wasthe tendency to exaggerate past achievements and downplay failures.Read entry Memory BiasEuphoric Recall – when the past feels better than it really wasthe tendency to remember the past through rose-colored glasses while ignoring the negatives.Read entry Memory BiasFalse Memory – when you ‘remember’ something that never happenedwhen imagination, stories from others, or time create memories of events that never actually happened.Read entry Memory BiasGender Differences in Eyewitness Memory – when you recall details better about people of your own genderthe tendency for witnesses to remember more details about individuals of the same gender.Read entry Memory BiasGeneration Effect – when you remember things better if you created them yourselfinformation you generate yourself is remembered better than information you just hear or read.Read entry Memory BiasGoogle Effect – when you forget what you can easily look up onlinethe tendency to forget information when you know it can be easily found online.Read entry Cognitive BiasHedonic Recall Bias – when satisfied employees think they earn more, and unhappy ones think they earn lessthe tendency to overestimate or underestimate earnings based on job satisfaction.Read entry Memory BiasHumor Effect – when funny things stick in your memorythe tendency to remember funny things better than neutral or boring ones.Read entry Memory BiasLag Effect – learning sticks better when spaced out over timeinformation sticks better when learning is spread out over time instead of in one go.Read entry Memory BiasLeveling and Sharpening – when some details fade and others get exaggeratedover time, some details fade while others become exaggerated and overemphasized.Read entry Memory BiasLevels-of-Processing Effect – how you learn determines how well you rememberthe deeper you process information, the better you remember it.Read entry Memory BiasList-Length Effect – the longer the list, the less you recall… but the more you retainas lists grow longer, relative recall decreases, but the total number of remembered items increases.Read entry Memory BiasMemory Inhibition – when remembering some things makes you forget otherswhen recalling certain items makes it harder to retrieve others.Read entry Memory BiasMisinformation Effect – when false details alter your memorieswhen memory becomes less accurate due to false details added later.Read entry Memory BiasModality Effect – you remember the last items better when you hear themspoken information is remembered differently than written, especially at the end of a list.Read entry Memory BiasMood-Congruent Memory Bias – you remember what matches your moodwe better remember and retrieve information that matches our current emotional state.Read entry Memory BiasNegativity Bias – when bad memories stick stronger than good onesthe brain reacts more strongly to negative experiences and stores them longer in memory.Read entry Memory BiasNext-in-Line Effect – when you don’t remember what was said right before your turnthe tendency to forget what was just said because you’re too focused on preparing your own response.Read entry Memory BiasPart-List Cueing Effect – when recalling one item makes others harder to rememberrecalling some items makes it harder to retrieve others from the same list.Read entry Memory BiasPeak–End Rule – you judge experiences by their most intense moment and the endingEnd Rule – we judge experiences not by their total duration, but by their most intense moment (good or bad) and how they ended.Read entry Memory BiasPersistence – when traumatic memories keep coming backwhen the brain forces us to relive traumatic memories even when we want to move on.Read entry Memory BiasPicture Superiority Effect – images stick in memory better than wordsthe brain remembers visual information more effectively than text.Read entry Memory BiasPositivity Effect – as we age, we remember more good than badas we age, our memory favors positive experiences and pushes negative ones aside.Read entry Memory BiasPrimacy Effect – you remember the first items bestinformation presented first is remembered better than what comes later.Read entry Memory BiasRecency Effect – the last things stick in memory bestthe most recent items or events are remembered better than those before them.Read entry Memory BiasReminiscence Bump – your youth stands out in memorywe remember adolescence and early adulthood more clearly than any other period of life.Read entry Memory BiasSaying Is Believing Effect – when you start believing what you saywhen we tailor a message for others, it becomes part of our own beliefs.Read entry Memory BiasSelf-Relevance Effect – you remember things better when they relate to youinformation connected to you is remembered better than similar details about others.Read entry Memory BiasSerial Position Effect – you remember the first and last, but forget the middlethe first and last items in a sequence are remembered best, while the middle tends to be forgotten.Read entry Memory BiasSocial Cryptomnesia – when you remember change but forget who fought for itwhen society recognizes that change has happened but forgets how it occurred and who made it possible.Read entry Memory BiasSource Confusion – when you remember information but forget where it came fromthe tendency to misremember where information came from, distorting our memories.Read entry Memory BiasStereotype Bias – memory distorts facts to fit expectationsmemory reshapes facts to fit expected patterns, even when they don’t match reality.Read entry Memory BiasSuffix Effect – the last thing is harder to recall if something follows itthe final items in a sequence become harder to remember if extra information follows them.Read entry Memory BiasSuggestibility – when you ‘remember’ things just because someone suggested themthe tendency to mistake others’ suggestions for real memories.Read entry Memory BiasTelescoping Effect – recent events feel distant, and distant ones feel recentthe tendency to shift events in time, making recent ones feel distant and distant ones feel recent.Read entry Memory BiasTesting Effect – self-testing beats passive repetitionmemory improves when you actively recall information instead of just passively reviewing it.Read entry Memory BiasThe Perky Effect – when reality blends with imaginationwhen real images or experiences influence imagined ones, making it hard to distinguish fantasy from reality.Read entry Memory BiasTip of the Tongue Phenomenon – when you know a word but just can’t recall itwhen you partially recall something but can’t fully retrieve it.Read entry Memory BiasVerbatim Effect – you remember the gist, not the exact wordsour brain stores the general meaning of messages rather than their precise wording.Read entry Memory BiasVon Restorff Effect – the odd one out is easiest to rememberour brain remembers what stands out the most.Read entry Memory BiasZeigarnik Effect – unfinished tasks stay on your mindthe brain remembers incomplete or interrupted tasks better than completed ones.Read entry

Back to the full library