“I just listened to that podcast… Why can’t I explain it now?”

Ever been in that moment?

You’re in a meeting, a discussion, or even just talking with a colleague. You know you read an article or heard a great argument in a podcast last week—but now that it’s time to bring it up, your mind blanks. It’s frustrating. It’s humbling. And if you’re like most of us in high-pressure, high-cognitive-demand careers—it’s also very human.

Let’s unpack why this happens, what human factors science says about it, and most importantly—what we can do to bridge the gap between knowing and communicating.

1. The Brain Isn’t a Storage Locker. It’s a Filtered Highway.

Human memory is not a perfect archive—it’s more like a noisy control tower, managing traffic, prioritizing what’s relevant, and forgetting what doesn’t get used.

According to Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow, our brains operate in two modes:

System 1: Fast, intuitive, automatic

System 2: Slow, deliberate, analytical

When we read, scroll, or listen, we often engage System 2. But unless we emotionally engage or repeat that info, it never becomes automatic. In a conversation, we rely on System 1—but if we never reinforced that podcast takeaway, System 1 just doesn’t fetch it.

2. The Myth of Passive Learning

We often confuse exposure with learning. But exposure without engagement is like driving by a library and expecting to know what’s inside.

Neuroscientist John Medina, in his book Brain Rules, points out that “we don’t remember things well if we don’t repeat them with intent.” In aviation and military training, we know this: simulators, drills, mission debriefs—they all serve to move knowledge from conscious effort to fluid action. Why don’t we treat professional development the same way?

3. The Human Factors Trap: Multitasking + Pressure = Recall Failure

Let’s say you’re in a strategy meeting. You’re:

Listening to others Analyzing what’s being said Trying to recall something from your reading Formulating a counterpoint

That’s four tasks at once—and your working memory can only juggle 2–4 chunks of info at a time (Cowan, 2010). In human factors terms, this is a cognitive load saturation point. It’s not a personal failure—it’s a natural processing limit.

Real Story: The Aircrew Debrief That Changed My Mind

During a multinational training exercise, I was debriefing a group of aircrew after a high-stakes sortie. One of the pilots, fluent in three languages and a known tactician, blanked when asked about a specific detail of enemy aircraft behavior—something he just reviewed in the morning intel brief.

He later told me, “I studied it. But I didn’t rehearse it. I guess I just filed it in the wrong drawer.”

Boom. That’s it.

So… What Can We Do?

Let’s take the science and bring it to your daily rhythm.

1. “3-Bullet Retention” Rule

After reading or listening to anything—summarize it in three bullet points.

Do it out loud, in a notebook, or even in a voice note on your drive home.

Why it works: You’re shifting from passive to retrieval-based learning—the most effective memory technique (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006).

2. Teach It to Keep It: The Feynman Technique

Want to master a concept? Teach it like you’re explaining to a 6th grader. Strip the jargon. Use analogies. Use stories.

Why it works: If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t truly understand it. Teaching forces neural consolidation.

3. Build Mental Hooks: Emotional or Experiential Anchors

Tie new information to something personal or emotional.

Example: You’re learning about memory bias? Connect it to the time you swore your keys were on the kitchen counter—but your spouse found them in the freezer.

Why it works: Emotion = stickiness in the hippocampus.

4. Simulate Conversations Before They Happen

Before a big meeting, ask yourself:

What might come up? What arguments might I need? How would I explain this idea?

Why it works: You’re practicing retrieval under mild stress—exactly what conversation demands.

5. Create a Personal Debrief Habit

Pilots do it. So should we. After every key conversation, write down:

What points landed? What didn’t? What do I wish I’d remembered?

It’s deliberate reflection, and it rewires the neural pathways for future performance.

Final Thought: You’re Not Forgetting—You’re Just Not Rehearsing Enough

We’re not memory machines. We’re pattern-spotting, emotion-driven, storytelling humans. The good news? Once you start working with those realities—rather than against them—retention and recall become natural byproducts of the system.

And if nothing else, remember this:

You don’t need to know everything.

You just need to remember the right thing at the right time.

That’s human factors at its finest.

Sources:

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow.

Medina, J. (2014). Brain Rules.

Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning. Psychological Science.

Cowan, N. (2010). The magical mystery four: How is working memory capacity limited? Current Directions in Psychological Science.