7 Truths About

Remembering
 7 Truths About Remembering
We teach a “7 truths” model to show how people best retain
information. It’s not that only seven truths about remembering
exist, but well… the number seven is part of the point. Ever
wonder why phone numbers have seven digits? Research
conducted in the 1950’s by cognitive psychologists showed
that seven, plus or minus two, is the maximum number of
“things” we can remember at any one time.

Our seven truths about remembering are tools we use to

quickly gain insight into how the brain works when facilitating
and designing instructional content. By teaching these truths
in a Train the Trainer session, you are enabling learners
to do things like linking the new to the familiar, eliminating
unnecessary content and more.

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 Seven Plus or Minus Two
The volume of new information
we can “learn” in the short-term
is pretty small: 7 +/ - 2: We can
only remember 7 +/-2 things in
our short-term memory. The less
familiar the information the lower
the ratio goes.

7 +/- 2

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 Difference
Difference attracts attention;
sameness loses it. We
generally remember what
stands out as DIFFERENT.

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 Primacy and Recency
Primacy and recency matter. We generally remember
the first thing we see or hear and the last thing we
see or hear. We need lots of primacy and recency to
cement new facts.

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 Emotional Connection
Connecting to people’s emotions can create meaning
and memory. Lack of connection hinders our ability to
remember.

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 Visual Connection
A visual coupled with text is a strong
memory builder... if the visuals are
relevant and appropriate.

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 10 Minutes
People can only remember
what they attend to. People’s
attention on the SAME
thing lasts a maximum of 10
minutes.

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 RELEVANT Relevancy
Including irrelevant
information with relevant
information reduces a
IRRELEVANT person’s ability to remember
ANY information.

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Bottom-Line Performance is a learning design firm serving a wide range of corporate clients.
Since 1995, we’ve helped clients choose the right learning solutions for their learners, while also
helping them to design and develop learning tools effectively. Areas of focus include product
launches, customer training, internal process training, safety & compliance and more.

Solutions we provide:

• eLearning/mLearning
• Serious games, gamification
• Curriculum design and development
• Blended learning programs
• Performance support
• Mobile apps
• Project management

Bottom-Line Performance is also the creator of Knowledge Guru®, a game-based learning

platform linked to the science of learning and remembering. BLP received three 2014 Brandon
Hall awards for its learning solutions, including two “Gold” distinctions.

Get in Touch

Email | info@bottomlineperformance.com
Phone | (317) 861-7281
Website | www.bottomlineperformance.com