We watched our parents, grandparents and even teachers do it – and now it’s our turn... Walking with purpose through a door, so sure about what we’re heading into another room to do and then, out of nowhere, we’ve forgotten.

It’s so annoying. “It can’t have been that important,” a loved one reassures you.

You know deep down though, it was important. It wasn’t forgettable but you’ve somehow managed to forget in the split second it took for you to walk into the next room. It’s gone. It’s done. You’ll have to remember again later.

Now, repeat for the rest of your life. 

Why do we forget what we’re doing when we walk through a door?

You will be relieved to hear that this is a real thing and it is actually very aptly named ‘The Doorway Effect’. The phenomenon comes down to how our minds are organised, not how forgetful we are. 

For almost 20 years, psychologists at the University of Notre Dame Indiana have been investigating this issue. In one study, the team used a virtual reality setup to show that their volunteers’ memory of items in a room was diminished once they walked through a doorway into another room.

Their explanation for this is that our memories are divided into episodes.

This means that we find it trickier to recall information from earlier episodes and, critically, when we walk through a doorway, it creates a new episode or ‘event boundary’.

This new event boundary makes it more difficult to recall our purpose, which was stored in the previous memory episode.

Basically, our brain does a little refresh as we walk through a door.

Or, as Psychology professor Gabriel Radvansky said: “Entering or exiting through a doorway serves as an ‘event boundary’ in the mind, which separates episodes of activity and files them away.

“Recalling the decision or activity that was made in a different room is difficult because it has been compartmentalised.”

How to remember what you were going to do

Health experts at Brainline recommend the following steps:

• Avoid trying to do too many things at once. 
• Repeat the name of the object of your search over and over until you find it
• Write down what you’re looking for. Even just one word may be enough to trigger your recall.
• Take something with you to remind you what you’re looking for. For example, if you’re looking for your purse, take the bill you intend to pay.
• Retrace your steps. For some, going back to the “scene of the crime” helps them recall what they’re looking for.