Body Atlas

Memory and Learning · Brain

Why do I forget a phone number so quickly?

The small, brief workspace you think inside.

The simple answer

Hold a phone number in your head while you look for a pen. That temporary workspace is working memory, and it's startlingly small — a handful of items, held for seconds unless you keep rehearsing them.

Go deeper

There's more: the small, brief workspace you think inside. The full explanation — and the interactive version you can tap and quiz yourself on — lives in the app.

Explore this concept in Body Atlas →

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