Many people have experienced it: you walk into a room intending to grab something, only to forget what you came for. This common lapse, often dismissed as a minor inconvenience, has a scientific explanation known as the “doorway effect.” Neuroscientists have studied how crossing a doorway can disrupt short-term memory by segmenting experiences into distinct episodes. While widely recognized, recent research shows the phenomenon may be more complex than initially thought, with environmental context and cognitive load also influencing memory.
The doorway effect refers to memory lapses triggered when an individual transitions from one physical space to another. The concept was first systematically explored in the early 2010s, when researchers suggested that walking through doorways acts as an “event boundary,” prompting the brain to update contextual information and creating memory segmentation. In this process, older information can become harder to retrieve because the brain prioritizes new environmental cues.
Emily McDonald, a neuroscience researcher currently pursuing her PhD in Neuroscience at University of Arizona, described how location plays a role in shaping memory, attention, and perception of time.
“Every time we shift locations in our environment, our brain shifts, which segments our reality,” McDonald explained in her reel. “You can harness this shift to change your state of mind on command.”
She illustrated this with personal strategies: setting intentions upon entering a classroom to improve focus, visiting a coffee shop to increase motivation through novelty and dopamine release, or stepping outside to reduce stress. According to McDonald, these location-based shifts show how the doorway effect can be used not only to understand memory lapses but also to intentionally reset mental states.
While early studies highlighted doorways as primary triggers of memory lapses, subsequent research has suggested that forgetting may not depend solely on crossing a threshold.
A 2021 study from University College London (UCL) analyzed memory performance across different transitions and found that forgetting occurred not just at doorways but also in varied contexts, such as turning corners or shifting tasks (UCL News, 2021). Researchers argued that environmental changes more broadly, rather than doors specifically, may disrupt memory.
Similarly, a 2021 meta-analysis published in Royal Society Open Science reviewed experimental data on the doorway effect and found mixed results, indicating that context changes, cognitive load, and task complexity may better explain why people forget when entering new spaces (Lawrence & Peterson, 2021, PMC7938580).
This suggests that while the doorway effect is real, it may be part of a larger phenomenon where the brain divides experiences into episodes whenever significant environmental or task boundaries occur.
Memory relies on encoding and retrieval processes influenced by context. Event segmentation theory proposes that the brain continuously breaks down experiences into discrete units to help organize information. When a person walks into a new space, the brain may mark that as the start of a new “event,” deprioritizing prior information. This can make recalling an intention—such as why you walked into the kitchen—temporarily difficult.
At the same time, novelty and environmental changes can stimulate dopamine release, which boosts learning and motivation. This explains why changing locations can sometimes help with focus, problem-solving, or creativity, as McDonald described.
Understanding the doorway effect has implications beyond everyday forgetfulness.
Learning and Focus – Students and professionals may benefit from intentional shifts in environment to reset attention.
Mental Health – For individuals experiencing stress or anxiety, changing locations can disrupt negative thought cycles and promote calm.
Clinical Insights – The study of memory segmentation may inform research on conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, where contextual memory is disrupted.
The doorway effect illustrates how closely memory is tied to environment and context. While walking through a doorway may cause the brain to segment experiences and temporarily disrupt memory, researchers emphasize that the phenomenon extends to many types of environmental shifts, not just physical doors.
As McDonald highlighted, these shifts can be harnessed positively—to focus, relieve stress, or boost creativity. The ongoing research reminds us that memory is dynamic, shaped not only by what we choose to remember but also by where we are when we experience it.
Lawrence, B. M., & Peterson, D. J. “The doorway effect: Investigating the role of event boundaries in memory.” Royal Society Open Science 8, no. 2 (2021): 201937. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7938580/
University College London. “Analysis: It’s not just doorways that make us forget what we came for in the next room.” UCL News, March 2021. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2021/mar/analysis-its-not-just-doorways-make-us-forget-what-we-came-next-room
(Rh/Eth/TL/MSM)