Train Short-, Medium-, and Long-Term Memory: Tuning Memorize Time and Recall Time

Why memory sports can train every kind of memory

Memory isn't one thing. The working (short-term) memory that holds a phone number for a few seconds, the middle stage that brings something back minutes or tens of minutes later, and the long-term memory that lasts for days or years all work differently. In a study that became a classic, the psychologist George Miller pegged the number of items working memory holds at once at roughly 7±2. As time passes, some of those items harden into long-term storage — a process called consolidation.

What makes memory sports special is that you can train these different kinds of memory and pick which one you're working within a single exercise. There are only two values to adjust.

The two dials — memorize time and recall time

Custom mode — available in every event, including Numbers — has two time settings.

• Memorize time — how long you look at the information and encode it in your head
• Recall time — how long you have to bring it back and enter it once you're done

How you set these two dials decides which kind of memory you're training right now. The longer you have to hold information before you use it, the more durable the memory has to be. In Custom mode you can set each value anywhere from 10 seconds to 1 hour.

Type	Memorize time	Recall time	What it builds
Working (short-term) memory	Under a minute	Under a minute	Speed at pulling back what you just saw
Medium-term memory	5–15 min	10–30 min	Staying power once a little time has passed
Long-term memory	30 min – 1 hr	1–3 hr	Deep storage that lasts

Training working (short-term) memory — keep both short

Set both the memorize time and the recall time to under a minute. You're training the focus and speed of grabbing information the instant after you've seen it.

Example: set 20–30 digits to a 30-second memorize and a 30-second recall, and run several quick rounds.

Working memory has a fixed capacity, so there's little point trying to force it wider. What you can reliably train is the speed of encoding and retrieval — that gets faster the more you practice. It's a great way to build a feel for the speed events.

Training medium-term memory — short memorize, long recall

Set a short memorize time of 5–15 minutes and a long recall time of 10–30 minutes. You're practicing holding onto what you memorized until some time has passed. The longer the recall time, the more time goes by before you get to the items you memorized first — so your staying power is put to the test naturally.

Example: set 40–80 digits to a 10-minute memorize and a 20-minute recall, then retrace your route and recall without rushing.

Training long-term memory — keep both long

Set both the memorize time and the recall time long (30 minutes to 1 hour to memorize, 1–3 hours to recall). This is training aimed at long-term storage — encoding information deeply and holding it for a long stretch.

One thing to know: for now, the recall time maxes out at 1 hour. So the ideal 1–3 hour hold isn't something you can reproduce exactly within a single session yet — you'll be practicing inside the one-hour ceiling. (That ceiling may go up in the future.)

If you also want to do proper multi-day, spaced review — coming back to the same material across several days — pair your practice with memorynotes.app, which has flashcard study and a spaced-repetition schedule built in. Turn your notes into flashcards and it handles the review for you, widening the gaps to a day later, three days later, a week later. Build your encoding speed and your within-a-session staying power in memory sports, then lock in the long-term retention over days and weeks with memorynotes — the two fit together well.

Splitting a single session into segments (advanced tip)

Even inside one session, varying your strategy from segment to segment improves how much you keep. The key principle is that in a long list, the information you memorized first is the first to fade. Later information interferes and time keeps passing, so by the time you recall, the very first items are the most fragile.

So split the session into segments like this:

• Early on — lock it in with your most durable method. Store it in the memory palace as a vivid scene, and mark it as something to revisit with spaced repetition later in the session.
• The middle — keep the flow going, working mostly with imagery to build images.
• The end — this is the part you'll pull back right away, so skim it quickly and hold it in working memory.

Here's one way to build spaced review into a single session:

If your memorize time is 5 minutes, spend the first 3 minutes memorizing up to the two-thirds mark, then go back to the start and review. Next, spend 1 minute 30 seconds on the rest, and use the final 20–30 seconds to skim the beginning one more time.

The ratio of the three segments depends on your own memory and strategy. Usually the first and middle segments get roughly equal time, while it's safest to shrink the last segment as the amount and time grow, since working memory has a capacity limit.

The most common beginner mistake — accuracy comes first

The most common mistake is trying to memorize far more than you can handle right from the start. Overreach and you end up with gaps scattered through your memory, and that anxiety shakes the rest of it loose too.

Your memory and your technique grow when you put accuracy first. Use Custom mode to match the amount and the time to what you can genuinely memorize, and build up one step at a time. Once your success rate is steady, that's when you nudge the amount up a little or trim the time down a little. Ten accurate rounds will lift your skill far faster than one overambitious one.

A training routine you can try today (example)

1. Warm-up — working memory. 20 digits, 30-second memorize and 30-second recall, two or three rounds. Wake up your senses and your focus.
2. Main set — medium-term memory. 40–80 digits, 10-minute memorize and 20-minute recall. Don't rush; protect your accuracy.
3. Cool-down — long-term memory. 100+ digits, 30-minute memorize and up to a 1-hour recall. Once or twice a week is plenty.

If the techniques aren't second nature yet, learn how to memorize numbers fast and how to build a memory palace first. If you want to measure your raw memory span, Number Memory can help.

Frequently asked questions

Which event should I practice with?

Any event that has a conversion table (a mapping to images) works fine. Numbers is the most straightforward; from there you can branch out to Cards or words. What matters isn't the event — it's the combination of memorize time and recall time.

I want to set a recall time longer than an hour.

Right now a single session's recall time tops out at 1 hour. If your goal is proper review spaced out over several days, we recommend pairing it with the spaced-repetition feature on memorynotes.app.

Do I have to do all three types every time?

Pick what fits your goal. If you're after split-second speed, weight your practice toward working memory; if you're aiming at the long events in competition or at storage that lasts, weight it toward long-term memory.