Discussion on this relatively basic aspect of learning: how do we “retain” what we learn?
There’s a lot to this though. Understanding how the brain “stores” information, and as important, how it “retrieves” information is a big part of learning. Worth noting for younger generations that before google and wikipedia one actually needed to store quite a few “facts” in one’s own head.
Also worth noting, that in pre-literate cultures, much of what a “people” knew was embedded in memorized narratives, such as myths. A lot of memorization involved there.
One other note, perhaps the reason there’s only ten commandments, is that that’s about all people could remember and recall later? Personally, I acquire software skills, and understand them, I guess….but if I don’t use them, a huge % simply “goes away”. Hate when that happens, but in the meantime, the software has gone through 3 revisions, and needs to be learned anew anyway.
One of the functions of mortality, is to replace one organism with another whose memory banks and “learning” is fresh…and that will grow in the new environment better than the older minds who had adapted optimally to previous environments .