8. Why hypnotism works—sometimes
Just because you can't remember an event, name, or face doesn't mean it's not still lurking in your brain, able to be retrieved through hypnotism. That's because our brains appear to have a threshold of what's considered fully formed memory, and hypnosis lowers that threshold (though how it does this is still unknown). Fragments and half-processed memories that your brain's retrieval system may not recognize when you're in a conscious state can be recognized under hypnosis as legitimate experiences. "It gets rid of your internal monitoring," says Schooler. However, with your threshold temporarily lowered, your mental guard is down: You're prone to suggestion—e.g., "cluck like a chicken"—and more likely to remember statements from the hypnotist as your own memories.
9. Why you lose your keys
It's impossible (and impractical) to remember each detail of our daily lives, so our brains compensate by making memory generalizations called schemata. For example, instead of remembering every apple you've ever eaten, your brain creates a schema of apples: hard, red, sweet. Same thing happens with your keys. Rather than recall every instance of placing your keys on, say, the dresser, you create a "keys = dresser" schema, so you have difficulty remembering the rare instances that don't fit the formula.
10. How to preserve your memory
"Statistically, the most common form of memory loss occurs through natural aging," says Baddeley. "You become worse at encoding and retrieving new information, particularly arbitrary information, such as people's names." One way to battle this brain drain is by recruiting help from your sense of sight. "Your visual sense takes up roughly 60 percent of your brain area," says Frank Felberbaum, a memory-training expert and the author of The Business of Memory. So if you want to remember someone's name, turn it into a visual image and link it to a prominent part of the person's appearance. In Felberbaum's case, he says, picture falling (fel) beer (ber) bombs (baum) hitting him on the nose. The key is to pick a facial feature that's both distinctive and unlikely to change over time; results may vary with Hollywood starlets and members of the Jackson family.