You walk into the next room and you forget what you went in there for. I'll tell you why that happens...

The next time you forget what you were just about to do – blame it on the door you just walked through...

It's a mental phenomenon known as the location-updating effect. In a study from Notre Dame, 28 volunteers were split into two groups. Both groups were asked to place objects in a room. The first group had to walk into another room and recall where they had placed the objects. The second group had to walk into a different area without passing through a door to do there recall. The group that had to pass through a door struggled significantly more with their recall than the other group.

When we passed through a door, our brains register that our location and situation has changed. That new location data is enough to push some other information out if it hasn't had time to really take hold. There is a solution to this. Have a notepad in each room of your home. Jot down any tasks or ideas as they come to you. If you forget what you were doing by the time you get to the next room just head back to your notepad if you can remember where you put it.