Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval: Why My Study Cycle Leaves Out A Step
I have a confession:
When I first started teaching students the science of how their brains learn, I left out a major pillar of memory science.
Ten years ago, an educator called me out about it.
At the time, I was in the beginning stages of developing an academic coaching model that I called the Anti-Boring Study Cycle—a simple 3-step model designed to translate the complex science of learning into something students could actually grasp and implement. My goal was to motivate them to actually use the study strategies I’d been teaching them by understanding the science behind why those strategies worked.
In that original Study Cycle, I focused on what I considered the two most important stages of learning: Encoding and Retrieval.
Above is a picture of the Study Cycle as I generally draw it on a white board. It’s deceptively simple, so if the study cycle is new to you, I highly recommend watching me teach it in a video inside our FREE visitor’s center.
But back to that educator who called me out:
During an online training for academic and executive function coaches, one of the participants stopped me, looking confused:
“What about storage?" she asked. "Isn't that one of the three stages of memory consolidation?"
I'll be honest: in that moment, I fumbled.
I knew the textbooks said memory is a three-part process (Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval), but in my work with students, I'd really only been focusing on encoding and retrieval. I'd left out storage entirely!
In the moment, I gave a vague answer—something about how I believe in teaching students "the least they need to know"—and we moved on with the training.
That was ten years ago. But I think it's finally time to take her question seriously.
What about storage?! And have I been teaching the Study Cycle all wrong?! Let’s explore.
TL;DR
If you don't have time to read the whole article, here are the highlights.
Memory has three stages — encoding, storage, and retrieval — but the Anti-Boring Study Cycle deliberately focuses on only two of them, and here's why.
When we look through the lens of behavior, encoding and retrieval turn out to be things students can actively do at their desks, while storage happens "offline" during sleep and rest — meaning students can't consciously control it.
But does that mean we shouldn't teach storage to students at all? After all, students can control the sleep and rest breaks that allow consolidation to happen — so maybe it deserves a place in the Study Cycle after all.
This blog will resonate most with:
Academic coaches, executive function coaches, tutors, and teachers who want to go beyond handing students study tools and actually teach them why those tools work.
If you support neurodivergent students, students with ADHD, or any student who studies hard but still blanks on test day, the science in this post will give you a stronger framework for your coaching and teaching practice.
And now, let’s get into it!
Science vs. Strategies: The Anti-Boring Approach to Teaching Study Skills
Over the years coaching students, I’ve observed that very few educators actually teach students study skills. And those who do usually make one of two key mistakes:
The first mistake is focusing purely on strategies—flashcards! acronyms! study guides!—which leaves students feeling uninspired and robotic. They have the tools, but no context for why they work.
The second mistake happens when those of us who love the science of learning over-correct. We teach students everything about the brain—which leaves them overwhelmed, or perhaps intrigued, but without a clue how to translate that "cool info" into action on a Tuesday night.
In the Anti-Boring Learning Lab, we teach educators to titrate between both: A little science, a few strategies that put it into action, a little more science, and a few more strategies. We do this until the student has a full framework for how to own their own learning.
My version of the Study Cycle was the best way I knew to teach the most actionable parts of the science as quickly as possible. I wanted an easy to remember framework that students could actually do—and that I, as their coach, could hold them accountable for.
The Three Stages of Memory
In case you don’t know, in the world of cognitive science, memory is generally broken down into three distinct stages:
Encoding: This is the initial learning phase. It’s when new information first enters the brain’s processing system.
Storage: This is the "saving" phase. It’s when the brain stabilizes those new memory traces and integrates them into long-term knowledge networks.
Retrieval: This is the "finding" phase. It’s the process of pulling that stored information back out when you need it (like on a test).
On paper, these three steps look like a clean, 1-2-3 linear process. So why, then, when I created the Study Cycle, did I leave out “storage” in favor of encoding and retrieval?
The Lens of Action: Active vs. Passive Memory
Instead of simply looking at the three stages as a linear process, I recommend we look through a different lens:
How active or passive is the student at each stage of the learning (aka memory consolidation) process?
With that question in mind, let’s cycle through our three steps again.
Encoding is behaviorally ACTIVE. This is when the brain first gets exposed to the information it’s learning. It requires attention and connection-making. Teachers control the encoding process by how they present and design instruction. Students control this by how they choose to engage—taking notes in their own words, drawing diagrams, and asking, "How does this relate to what I already know?"
Storage is behaviorally PASSIVE. While your brain is actually working very hard during this stage (synthesizing proteins and "wiring" synapses), this is an automatic process that happens "offline." A student cannot consciously "do" storage. It happens largely while the brain sleeps and during periods of quiet rest. You can’t "will" your synapses to strengthen while you’re staring at a textbook; you can only provide the biological conditions—like sleep and downtime—that allow your brain to finish the job.
Retrieval is behaviorally ACTIVE. This is the act of pulling information back out to see what stuck and what didn’t. Teachers can prompt retrieval by asking questions or giving low-stakes quizzes. But at home, the student must take the lead. Most students think retrieval is just a way to check if they know something. In reality, retrieval IS the learning. Every time a student forces their brain to pull a fact out of thin air, they are burning that path deeper into their memory.
By looking through the lens of behavior, it becomes obvious why I intuitively focused the Study Cycle on Encoding and Retrieval.
I wasn't ignoring the storage phase; I was focusing on the two main levers a student can actually pull to finish the job their teacher started.
The "Least They Need to Know" vs. The Full Picture
In the Anti-Boring Toolkit, we specialize in teaching the student “the least they need to know” to get into meaningful action.
Which brings us back to the educator’s question from ten years ago: Was I right to leave "Storage" out of the Study Cycle?
On one hand, I still believe I was right to focus the model on the two actions students can objectively do to improve their own learning: encode and retrieve.
On the other hand, a student isn't entirely powerless when it comes to storage. While they can't "do" consolidation consciously, they can be behaviorally active in setting the stage for it to happen by choosing sleep and quiet breaks over all-nighters and TikTok scrolls.
So, what do you think?
As we continue to support students in building more effective study strategies, so that they can be successful during final exams, is there a role for teaching about “storage?”
Is it better to keep the study cycle “lean” with only the parts of the memory consolidation process that students can actually control — encoding and retrieval?
Or is the "Storage" phase too important to leave out, since the student's choices (like sleep and breaks) determine whether their hard work actually "sticks?”
Drop your thoughts in the comments—I’d love to hear how you handle this tension in your own academic and executive function coaching for students, or in the classroom if you’re a teacher who’s into teaching the science of learning to your students!
Want to See the Full Study Cycle Framework?
If you want to see how we teach the full Anti-Boring Study Cycle—and how we titrate the science and the strategies so students actually use them—I’d love to invite you to the Anti-Boring Visitor's Center. Inside, you'll find my mini-lecture on The Study Cycle that you can use immediately with your students.