Related to memory, an overview of retention and transfer including their relationship to learning

While both memory and learning coincide, they perform slightly different roles in how the body reacts. Memory deals with how information is stored and relayed through conscious and unconscious actions. It is retained through representation of past experiences and mental processes of learning and encoding (Di Tullio, 2021). Meanwhile, learning takes place once new information is acquired.

How one learns is determined by acquiring new information behaviors and abilities after being emersed in practice or vicarious experiences. Therefore. retention refers to the ability to store information in long-term memory and successfully recall it later. And transfer looks at how the information is interpreted and used. Retention and transfer work together to support academic success and promote skills such as critical thinking and analyzing.

Both retention and transfer can support learning through various processes, for example processing and understanding of information. Also, by connecting materials to concepts and contents (Huck, 2025).