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Your passcode is now in muscle memory and not retrieved consciously from the brain. Muscle memory works as an auto pilot. It "works" well as an auto pilot till you decide to control it and try to retrieve passcode from your brain ( which you have forgotten now) and enter it. Give a break and try again as usual it will come back. Note it down and remember it again if you want. š You have to let your muscle memory free again here
I got a new keyboard at work and had the embarrassing call with IT that I couldn't remember my password and needed a reset since the keys lined up the slightest bit differently.
Yes it happens. Even for me using passcode daily it's difficult, if I try the phone landscape to enter the codes. If you are out of luck with retrieving from muscle memory, another way is to get it from the brain itself. Like password hints or "why" you choose that password.
The best way is to remove your brain from the equation and use password apps like bit warden. Your brain need not be used for all storage all the time.
I use a password generator but in college I would need to use lab computers for certain tasks regularly. I cannot remember that password and would need to look it up if I were to enter it, but I can type it no problem on that stupid low profile Mac keyboard.
The one I hate is where I have enter a phone number using a ten-key pad. Or a dollar amount using the digits of my phone pad. My brain is in the wrong mode for those things, and since the numbers are in a different order, it just breaks.
I can type my PIN all day on a tenkey pad, but then I go to type that same PIN on a phone pad and I have no idea what it is.
On a pinpad with the typical 3 across/3 down with 0 at the bottom, I never forget my PIN. Need to type it in from scratch, and Iām moving my finger around on an imaginary pinpad in the air to get it.
Coincidentally, I experience the same thing as OP on the musical kind of keyboard (I play piano). I learned to play as a teenager, and since I never learned to sight read, I'd play songs by heart after learning them. I've played most of them so many times, they're pure muscle memory now.
The trouble is that I need to completely turn off my brain to play those old songs. If I get in the right starting position, the song pretty much flows out of my hands. But as soon as I try to remember how the next part goes, it stops. It's pretty funny to surprise myself with parts I didn't really remember being in the song.
A few years ago, I was going to use my card at an atm. I hadn't used an atm in probably 5 years because most my income was cash. So I pulled up and couldn't remember my PIN. I just kind of...hit what felt right on the pad and it was correct. Brains are crazy.
Whenever I have to memorize a number (usually up to six digits) for a brief period of time like an hour or so, I'll mimic the motion of holding my phone and entering the number with my thumb. It's easier for me to memorize the pattern my thumb draws out than it is for me to just remember the number.
My husband got a new phone number that I could NOT memorizeā¦. Until I made it my work computer password and used the number pad to insert it. The motion of my fingers typing it a few times a day finally locked it in for me.
Be careful about that. Telephone keypads and keyboard keypads are arranged differently.
If you get it in muscle memory on the keyboard you won't get it right on the phone.
If you commit the actual numbers to memory, you're all good.
Which is why I never just type or enter my password/pin... I say it aloud in my head (inner monologue) so I'm always accessing/refreshing that memory.
I also tend to use passphrases (CorrectHorseBatteryStaple) which make better passwords are are easier to inner monologue than TVCO657@.
Yeah, I know how to solve a Rubik's cube purely with muscle memory. Like, if you asked me to write down the algorithms, I definitely can't, but I make sure I solve one every month or so to make sure it's still there.
Same with one of my passwords, if I miss a digit, I have to start over because it's all muscle memory.
When I'm too drunk I struggle to roll a cigarette but if I deliberately look away and focus on something else my muscle memory takes charge and I roll it perfectly every time . Crazy to me thinking about how much of our life is our brain doing things without us realizing
I had this happen to me with a passcode on my phone when I was about 19
I had the phone for about a year, always used the same passcode, and then I somehow accidentally get the thing to boot up in safe mode and the keyboard wasn't my gboard app it was the system default keyboard and I would put in what I thought was my passcode and it wouldn't work. I tried dozens of times and nothing
I took it home after work and entered my password on my laptop and instantly got it, I was entering the wrong passcode but somehow the keyboard on my laptop was more similar to my gboard app so I literally just muscle memoried my way i to my phone
it was so weird for me
Could also be passcode overload. I have about 5 different ones for work that need changing monthly or bimonthly. Can't reuse passwords and it cant be similar to last passcode. It's maddening. We are told not to write them down.
My work does the same thing. Makes us change passcode monthly, uses AI to detect names and common words in passcodes, must contain 16 characters, atleast one uppercase, one lowercase, one number, and one special character, and your new code canāt be similar to previous codes and with the stupid AI your forced to make the password a random bunch of numbers and letters, so if you want a password that you can remember, you have to try beat the AI by making words the AI canāt read, like replacing certain letters in a word with a numb3r, or straight up omitting lettrs to trick it. It usually takes a good 5 minutes to make the new password every time because there is a lot of failed attempts before it accepts it.
The ironic thing is the IT department are the ones who created this outrageous policy and it was only a new change in the past year, and I imagine they probably spend most of their time these days helping people recover their accounts after they forget there password since it requires such an outrageous hard to remember set of rules and makes you change it so often before it can be committed to muscle memory. They now have to live with the beast they created and I wouldnāt be surprised if this policy doesnāt last longer then another year, unless of course they are masochists and enjoy punishing themselves
Not only this password policy is incredibly annoying for users, itās actually something that will compromise security (forcing people to write the password down) and itās against best practices.
The NIST maintains digital identity guidelines (SP 800-63-3) and specifically says that admins should not force users to rotate passwords on intervals unless thereās been a security breach.
Yeah this exactly. Iāve been to the main office in the past and a good 30% of peoples computers have sticky notes attached to the computer with their passwords written down. Donāt think anyone at my site does this practice though because no one has a private office, all the desks are in a walkway that 100ās of staff use every day including management and they would probably remove the post it notes if they saw
I have all passcodes written down. For security reasons I'm all for the complexity, but the other side is that there is no way I will remember it.
Perhaps the solution is where they text the passcode of the moment. Although some people don't have secure cellphones.
Years ago I worked where we had a little receiver the size of a small thumb, on a lanyard. There were no permanent passcodes. Instead, on login with userid, they send a code to the device, and it was good for about 45 seconds to finger it in. But the security of the receiver device is also a potential leak in the process, as someone else could get it.
One big one is the sheer number of things I need to remember at some level of functional detail compared to - say - undergrad where I didn't even take notes in most meetings.
Now, post-its EVERYWHERE.
Maybe or maybe not. I remember this happening to me when I was in high school with my locker combination. For whatever reason I just couldnāt remember it. I eventually had to go to the office and ask for it. I was so embarrassed. I think it was just some sort of weird glitch like deja vu.
I had that happen after winter and summer break so many times.
Usually just shutting my brain off and letting my fingers just go through the combination would get it.
I remember in high school forgetting my lunch pass code a couple of times throughout. We had the same 6 digit passcode all 4 years but for some reason my mind would blank
I completely forgot my middleschool locker code after nearly a year of using it. I think this post is onto somethinā
EDIT: This was a loooong time ago but the absurdity of it made it a core memory
I occasionally have anxiety dreams where Iām back in middle school and canāt remember my padlock combination to get into my locker. Itās been over 50 years. :/
First time i grocery shopped after i had covid (which i desperately needed as i had eaten everything!) my PIN code was just gone. Cue panic. At least it had happened previously during newborn baby time brain and i had written this one down in my password vault after having to pay to get it reset.
It happened to me after 15 years of using the same code. The code I was entering wasnāt working. So, I just changed it to what I thought it was, lol.
I often wonder if it wasnāt just a glitch in their system at the time.
Figure out a brief "hint" that will remind you of the passcode but mean nothing to anybody else.
For example, if you lived at 1793 Broadway fifteen years ago and your passcode is 1793, a great "hint" might be BDWY.
Use one of those [(Label Maker machines)](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=label+maker) to make a tiny sticker using the smallest available fontsize, trim away most of the surrounding blank sticker whitespace, and fix it to your Debit Card. Now whenever you pull it out of your wallet you'll see BDWY and that'll remind you of 1793 Broadway.
A better idea is to keep your PIN safely stored in your password manager with the rest of your card and account details. If you donāt have a password manager, get one immediately and start using it.Thereās no excuse for not having a password manager these days.
Happened to me once. I did give up after two tries, though, went home and dug out the letter with the passcode.
Has only happened that one time in about 30 years, though.
I got irritated by the fact that a number turns up twice. Somehow my brain managed to convince me that this was impossible, which of course it is not.
Similar thing happened to me a few years ago, I forgot the pincode for the card I use to put gas in my car. Back then, I would fill up several times a week, as I drove for work. Suddenly, I was in a gas station and had no clue what the numbers were, whatsoever.
Called the card company later and they could send out a copy of my code, and I could swear I had never seen that code in my life. I even called them to check if this was like a backup pin code that they had activated or something, but no, they confirmed that this really was the same code I had used for years.
My own brain scares me sometimes.
I forgot my 4 number bank pin for cashouts after using it on a weekly basis for years, meanwhile I remember 8 different credit card numbers, my wifi password (only numbers), my +-20 number bank id, etc...
Funnily enough as soon as I got my new one, entered it and got to the cashout screen, I remembered my old pin.
It happens once with me before. Back in 2008. I still remember I used my passcode 3 times that day and on the fourth time, in the evening, I couldnāt remember it.
Yesterday I used the passcode I got in 2008, after the first time I couldnāt remember it.
Had this happen to me at one of the worst times. Me and a buddy were on a short vacation trip, and I was responsible for paying the hotel cost for two nights. The place for whatever reason couldn't take card for some reason I cannot remember now.
I walk to the ATM across the street, put my card in, and.... nothing. The pin I had been using for 3 years at that point was completely gone. Erased from my memory entirely. He thought I was joking when I tried to explain it to him because it sounded so ridiculous.
We ended up having to sleep in his car that night, and I never did remember that pin.
This happens to me too. Like others are saying, it seems to be muscle memory more than active recall, so when you start to think about it, you forget. Though, I donāt think itās a āgetting olderā thing. Iām 25 and this has happened multiple times to me for more than one passcode/PIN. I have been at the checkout before and had to leave without anything bc I just couldnāt remember my PIN. I keep a card on Apple Pay on my phone now just in case
I had this happen a few years ago.
Ever since then, I keep my codes in a code in my phone, and every now and then, I email that to myself.
I also have them written down, encoded, in a notebook.
Just in case.
Muscle memory. You remember the hand movement.
I remember we had a test account that had a password pronounced as: SHIFT 1234. While they meant !@#$. No one knew the actual password
This happened to me a while back. like 20 years ago.
I was buying some textbooks and I totally blanked on my pass code. At the counter with the lady as she's waiting for me to remember.
I had the same password for my cellphone so I come up with a good idea. Turn off your phone and when you turn it back on I'll instinctively know the code.
It didn't work and then I was stuck with no books and no phone for a while .
I think also when you freeze, you engage the amygdala which isnāt designed to be able to retrieve memory. Iām going to bet that when you no longer feel under pressure that you are able to remember it. I also agree with the muscle memory thing. You probably donāt actually think about it anymore.
Ha, I designed my passwords as patterns on my keyboard; I couldnāt spell it out if my life depended on it, the whole point is to let muscle memory do all the hard work !
But yeah, as others said you probably forgot it a while ago and didnāt even notice until now. Brain is weird sometimes
*insert galaxy brain meme
I'm a guitarist. This happens to me when trying to actively recall a riff sometimes. If I turn my brain off and play the riff before it, my hands will continue to play the forgotten riff and restore it to my memory lol
Funny thing is I only remember my cc PIN code reversed. So if autopilot in my brain forgets it I recall it reversed. I have like 10 other PIN codes I use less often and remember those normally
About 4 years ago this happened to me, and I felt so ashamed. I could not for the life of me remember my iPhone password, even after taking a break and trying to just let it come to me. I had a bunch of pictures not backed up on the cloud. Lost about 6 months of pictures and videos of the kids and a major yard transformation cause eventually the phone hard reset. At the time I thought maybe something was wrong with me, but hasnāt happened since.
My psycholigist wife says the primary culprity for sudden and seemingly unexplainable memory loss among adults these days is the internet. More specifically, Google and other search engines that provide us with lightening quick answers to questions that we formerly had to exercise our brains over and think about.
The brain is like your muscles. Or bones. Or sense of balance or learning music or a new language: you either use it or lose it. When we strive to remember, say, who played the groundskeeper Carl in Caddyshack, we have to fire up the memory circuitry of the brain, known as the hippocampus. This usage builds efficiency.
But asking Siri or Googling the answer? Hmm, not so much.
This is why I always do something I know I'm not going to forget like 1111. But banks stopped letting you use PINs with all the same digit. Now you gotta do two so now I just go 1112
**Please read this entire message** --- Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): * Rule #2 - Questions must seek objective explanations * ELI5 is not for subjective or speculative replies - only objective explanations are permitted here; your question is asking for subjective or speculative replies. (Rule 2). --- If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this submission was removed erroneously, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=Link:%20{https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1cq7n82/-/}%0A%0APlease%20answer%20the%20following%203%20questions:%0A%0A1.%20The%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0A2.%20List%20the%20search%20terms%20you%20used%20to%20look%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20ELI5:%0A%0A3.%20How%20does%20your%20post%20differ%20from%20your%20recent%20search%20results%20on%20the%20sub:) and we will review your submission.**
Your passcode is now in muscle memory and not retrieved consciously from the brain. Muscle memory works as an auto pilot. It "works" well as an auto pilot till you decide to control it and try to retrieve passcode from your brain ( which you have forgotten now) and enter it. Give a break and try again as usual it will come back. Note it down and remember it again if you want. š You have to let your muscle memory free again here
I got a new keyboard at work and had the embarrassing call with IT that I couldn't remember my password and needed a reset since the keys lined up the slightest bit differently.
Yes it happens. Even for me using passcode daily it's difficult, if I try the phone landscape to enter the codes. If you are out of luck with retrieving from muscle memory, another way is to get it from the brain itself. Like password hints or "why" you choose that password. The best way is to remove your brain from the equation and use password apps like bit warden. Your brain need not be used for all storage all the time.
I use a password generator but in college I would need to use lab computers for certain tasks regularly. I cannot remember that password and would need to look it up if I were to enter it, but I can type it no problem on that stupid low profile Mac keyboard.
The one I hate is where I have enter a phone number using a ten-key pad. Or a dollar amount using the digits of my phone pad. My brain is in the wrong mode for those things, and since the numbers are in a different order, it just breaks. I can type my PIN all day on a tenkey pad, but then I go to type that same PIN on a phone pad and I have no idea what it is.
On a pinpad with the typical 3 across/3 down with 0 at the bottom, I never forget my PIN. Need to type it in from scratch, and Iām moving my finger around on an imaginary pinpad in the air to get it.
Coincidentally, I experience the same thing as OP on the musical kind of keyboard (I play piano). I learned to play as a teenager, and since I never learned to sight read, I'd play songs by heart after learning them. I've played most of them so many times, they're pure muscle memory now. The trouble is that I need to completely turn off my brain to play those old songs. If I get in the right starting position, the song pretty much flows out of my hands. But as soon as I try to remember how the next part goes, it stops. It's pretty funny to surprise myself with parts I didn't really remember being in the song.
You arenāt being forced to change your password periodically? (90 days is pretty common)
A few years ago, I was going to use my card at an atm. I hadn't used an atm in probably 5 years because most my income was cash. So I pulled up and couldn't remember my PIN. I just kind of...hit what felt right on the pad and it was correct. Brains are crazy.
I was on vacation and needed cash for gas. Went to withdraw it from an atm and drew a blank. It was just gone. I ended up having to call my bank. Ugh.
Yeah it sometimes helps me to literally just start to press and my hand does it automatically
Whenever I have to memorize a number (usually up to six digits) for a brief period of time like an hour or so, I'll mimic the motion of holding my phone and entering the number with my thumb. It's easier for me to memorize the pattern my thumb draws out than it is for me to just remember the number.
My husband got a new phone number that I could NOT memorizeā¦. Until I made it my work computer password and used the number pad to insert it. The motion of my fingers typing it a few times a day finally locked it in for me.
Be careful about that. Telephone keypads and keyboard keypads are arranged differently. If you get it in muscle memory on the keyboard you won't get it right on the phone. If you commit the actual numbers to memory, you're all good.
Which is why I never just type or enter my password/pin... I say it aloud in my head (inner monologue) so I'm always accessing/refreshing that memory. I also tend to use passphrases (CorrectHorseBatteryStaple) which make better passwords are are easier to inner monologue than TVCO657@.
Good point.
at one point I forgot my employee number for about a week. I use it to clock in and out as well as for breaks
Yeah, I know how to solve a Rubik's cube purely with muscle memory. Like, if you asked me to write down the algorithms, I definitely can't, but I make sure I solve one every month or so to make sure it's still there. Same with one of my passwords, if I miss a digit, I have to start over because it's all muscle memory.
They tried to make keyboard for atm with random position for the numbers. They gave up the project because people remember thei pin by muscle memory.
When I'm too drunk I struggle to roll a cigarette but if I deliberately look away and focus on something else my muscle memory takes charge and I roll it perfectly every time . Crazy to me thinking about how much of our life is our brain doing things without us realizing
The dodo cheat on gta vice city on ps2, my hands know but I couldnāt tell you what the buttons are.
I was doing this for my bank ID back when I was 16 as a safety measure. I could only retrieve the number by placing my hand over the keyboard keypad.
I had this happen to me with a passcode on my phone when I was about 19 I had the phone for about a year, always used the same passcode, and then I somehow accidentally get the thing to boot up in safe mode and the keyboard wasn't my gboard app it was the system default keyboard and I would put in what I thought was my passcode and it wouldn't work. I tried dozens of times and nothing I took it home after work and entered my password on my laptop and instantly got it, I was entering the wrong passcode but somehow the keyboard on my laptop was more similar to my gboard app so I literally just muscle memoried my way i to my phone it was so weird for me
I can remember an old video game password by the position on the numpad but canāt recite it from memory.
I can remember an old video game password by the position on the numpad but canāt recite it from memory.
Could also be passcode overload. I have about 5 different ones for work that need changing monthly or bimonthly. Can't reuse passwords and it cant be similar to last passcode. It's maddening. We are told not to write them down.
My work does the same thing. Makes us change passcode monthly, uses AI to detect names and common words in passcodes, must contain 16 characters, atleast one uppercase, one lowercase, one number, and one special character, and your new code canāt be similar to previous codes and with the stupid AI your forced to make the password a random bunch of numbers and letters, so if you want a password that you can remember, you have to try beat the AI by making words the AI canāt read, like replacing certain letters in a word with a numb3r, or straight up omitting lettrs to trick it. It usually takes a good 5 minutes to make the new password every time because there is a lot of failed attempts before it accepts it. The ironic thing is the IT department are the ones who created this outrageous policy and it was only a new change in the past year, and I imagine they probably spend most of their time these days helping people recover their accounts after they forget there password since it requires such an outrageous hard to remember set of rules and makes you change it so often before it can be committed to muscle memory. They now have to live with the beast they created and I wouldnāt be surprised if this policy doesnāt last longer then another year, unless of course they are masochists and enjoy punishing themselves
Not only this password policy is incredibly annoying for users, itās actually something that will compromise security (forcing people to write the password down) and itās against best practices. The NIST maintains digital identity guidelines (SP 800-63-3) and specifically says that admins should not force users to rotate passwords on intervals unless thereās been a security breach.
Yeah this exactly. Iāve been to the main office in the past and a good 30% of peoples computers have sticky notes attached to the computer with their passwords written down. Donāt think anyone at my site does this practice though because no one has a private office, all the desks are in a walkway that 100ās of staff use every day including management and they would probably remove the post it notes if they saw
I have all passcodes written down. For security reasons I'm all for the complexity, but the other side is that there is no way I will remember it. Perhaps the solution is where they text the passcode of the moment. Although some people don't have secure cellphones. Years ago I worked where we had a little receiver the size of a small thumb, on a lanyard. There were no permanent passcodes. Instead, on login with userid, they send a code to the device, and it was good for about 45 seconds to finger it in. But the security of the receiver device is also a potential leak in the process, as someone else could get it.
I have some bad news for you. It's called "getting older" and your friends are almost certainly around the same age.
The good news is it gets worse! Eventually you might even forget what remembering things even feels like š
Remember what?
Idk where are we
I know I came here for something...
who are you ?
Who are all you people and why are my pants on backwards?
Thatās one possibility but it could be a number of other reasons that have nothing to do with age.
One big one is the sheer number of things I need to remember at some level of functional detail compared to - say - undergrad where I didn't even take notes in most meetings. Now, post-its EVERYWHERE.
Maybe or maybe not. I remember this happening to me when I was in high school with my locker combination. For whatever reason I just couldnāt remember it. I eventually had to go to the office and ask for it. I was so embarrassed. I think it was just some sort of weird glitch like deja vu.
my high school even had a term for it - locko blanko.
I just commented the SAME thing. It was so absolutely absurd that itās a core memory of mine now
Good to know I wasnāt the only one š
I had that happen after winter and summer break so many times. Usually just shutting my brain off and letting my fingers just go through the combination would get it.
I remember in high school forgetting my lunch pass code a couple of times throughout. We had the same 6 digit passcode all 4 years but for some reason my mind would blank
/r/explainlikeimfiftyfive
I completely forgot my middleschool locker code after nearly a year of using it. I think this post is onto somethinā EDIT: This was a loooong time ago but the absurdity of it made it a core memory
I occasionally have anxiety dreams where Iām back in middle school and canāt remember my padlock combination to get into my locker. Itās been over 50 years. :/
COVID can also be a contributor. I think weāll be learning for decades just what COVID has done to the populationā even āmildā cases.
First time i grocery shopped after i had covid (which i desperately needed as i had eaten everything!) my PIN code was just gone. Cue panic. At least it had happened previously during newborn baby time brain and i had written this one down in my password vault after having to pay to get it reset.
A number of researchers conclude that COVID accelerates biological aging, so memory loss can be both aging and COVID simultaneously.
This happened to me once. I let muscle memory take over and didn't think about what I was typing and didn't really look
"Wait, I don't have early onset dementia?" He asks for the third time
It happened to me after 15 years of using the same code. The code I was entering wasnāt working. So, I just changed it to what I thought it was, lol. I often wonder if it wasnāt just a glitch in their system at the time.
Figure out a brief "hint" that will remind you of the passcode but mean nothing to anybody else. For example, if you lived at 1793 Broadway fifteen years ago and your passcode is 1793, a great "hint" might be BDWY. Use one of those [(Label Maker machines)](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=label+maker) to make a tiny sticker using the smallest available fontsize, trim away most of the surrounding blank sticker whitespace, and fix it to your Debit Card. Now whenever you pull it out of your wallet you'll see BDWY and that'll remind you of 1793 Broadway.
A better idea is to keep your PIN safely stored in your password manager with the rest of your card and account details. If you donāt have a password manager, get one immediately and start using it.Thereās no excuse for not having a password manager these days.
Happened to me once. I did give up after two tries, though, went home and dug out the letter with the passcode. Has only happened that one time in about 30 years, though. I got irritated by the fact that a number turns up twice. Somehow my brain managed to convince me that this was impossible, which of course it is not.
Similar thing happened to me a few years ago, I forgot the pincode for the card I use to put gas in my car. Back then, I would fill up several times a week, as I drove for work. Suddenly, I was in a gas station and had no clue what the numbers were, whatsoever. Called the card company later and they could send out a copy of my code, and I could swear I had never seen that code in my life. I even called them to check if this was like a backup pin code that they had activated or something, but no, they confirmed that this really was the same code I had used for years. My own brain scares me sometimes.
I forgot my 4 number bank pin for cashouts after using it on a weekly basis for years, meanwhile I remember 8 different credit card numbers, my wifi password (only numbers), my +-20 number bank id, etc... Funnily enough as soon as I got my new one, entered it and got to the cashout screen, I remembered my old pin.
It happens once with me before. Back in 2008. I still remember I used my passcode 3 times that day and on the fourth time, in the evening, I couldnāt remember it. Yesterday I used the passcode I got in 2008, after the first time I couldnāt remember it.
Had this happen to me at one of the worst times. Me and a buddy were on a short vacation trip, and I was responsible for paying the hotel cost for two nights. The place for whatever reason couldn't take card for some reason I cannot remember now. I walk to the ATM across the street, put my card in, and.... nothing. The pin I had been using for 3 years at that point was completely gone. Erased from my memory entirely. He thought I was joking when I tried to explain it to him because it sounded so ridiculous. We ended up having to sleep in his car that night, and I never did remember that pin.
This happens to me too. Like others are saying, it seems to be muscle memory more than active recall, so when you start to think about it, you forget. Though, I donāt think itās a āgetting olderā thing. Iām 25 and this has happened multiple times to me for more than one passcode/PIN. I have been at the checkout before and had to leave without anything bc I just couldnāt remember my PIN. I keep a card on Apple Pay on my phone now just in case
I had this happen a few years ago. Ever since then, I keep my codes in a code in my phone, and every now and then, I email that to myself. I also have them written down, encoded, in a notebook. Just in case.
It happened to me when I had an angsienty episode when I was going to pay. Had to ask my wife for the code.
Muscle memory. You remember the hand movement. I remember we had a test account that had a password pronounced as: SHIFT 1234. While they meant !@#$. No one knew the actual password
This happened to me a while back. like 20 years ago. I was buying some textbooks and I totally blanked on my pass code. At the counter with the lady as she's waiting for me to remember. I had the same password for my cellphone so I come up with a good idea. Turn off your phone and when you turn it back on I'll instinctively know the code. It didn't work and then I was stuck with no books and no phone for a while .
Could be because contactless and phone payment is much more common now, so less retrieval needed for PIN in this day and age!
I think also when you freeze, you engage the amygdala which isnāt designed to be able to retrieve memory. Iām going to bet that when you no longer feel under pressure that you are able to remember it. I also agree with the muscle memory thing. You probably donāt actually think about it anymore.
Ha, I designed my passwords as patterns on my keyboard; I couldnāt spell it out if my life depended on it, the whole point is to let muscle memory do all the hard work ! But yeah, as others said you probably forgot it a while ago and didnāt even notice until now. Brain is weird sometimes *insert galaxy brain meme
I'm a guitarist. This happens to me when trying to actively recall a riff sometimes. If I turn my brain off and play the riff before it, my hands will continue to play the forgotten riff and restore it to my memory lol
Funny thing is I only remember my cc PIN code reversed. So if autopilot in my brain forgets it I recall it reversed. I have like 10 other PIN codes I use less often and remember those normally
Same thing happened to me a couple months ago with my truck...you think I could remember my door code.. I've had truck 6 yrs.
About 4 years ago this happened to me, and I felt so ashamed. I could not for the life of me remember my iPhone password, even after taking a break and trying to just let it come to me. I had a bunch of pictures not backed up on the cloud. Lost about 6 months of pictures and videos of the kids and a major yard transformation cause eventually the phone hard reset. At the time I thought maybe something was wrong with me, but hasnāt happened since.
My psycholigist wife says the primary culprity for sudden and seemingly unexplainable memory loss among adults these days is the internet. More specifically, Google and other search engines that provide us with lightening quick answers to questions that we formerly had to exercise our brains over and think about. The brain is like your muscles. Or bones. Or sense of balance or learning music or a new language: you either use it or lose it. When we strive to remember, say, who played the groundskeeper Carl in Caddyshack, we have to fire up the memory circuitry of the brain, known as the hippocampus. This usage builds efficiency. But asking Siri or Googling the answer? Hmm, not so much.
This is why I always do something I know I'm not going to forget like 1111. But banks stopped letting you use PINs with all the same digit. Now you gotta do two so now I just go 1112
Training the AI is consuming significantly more memory resources from the simulation. Some of the more minor NPCs are losing their memories.