The ADHD Skills Lab

Why ADHD Brains Forget What They Just Learned

17 snips
Mar 18, 2026
They unpack research on why information often fails to stick for adults with ADHD. They compare learning techniques and highlight that practice testing and spaced study beat rereading. They explore why the encoding stage frequently breaks down and why verbal info can be harder than visual. They also cover how medication interacts with learning and the value of repeated recalls.
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ADVICE

Learn By Testing Yourself Over Time

  • Use practice testing and distributed practice to learn effectively.
  • Dunlosky et al. (2013) found flashcards/practice tests plus spacing across days strongly outperform rereading.
ANECDOTE

How Skye And Robbie Studied In University

  • Skye learned study techniques in her psych degree and drew pictures and notes as memory aids.
  • Robbie regrets rereading cliff notes and wishes he'd made flashcards earlier for distributed testing.
ADVICE

Retest Until You Hit Criterion

  • Don’t stop after one successful recall; reach practice-to-criterion.
  • Dunlosky recommended around three successful recalls across intervals to secure encoding.
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