Rehearsal is the conscious repetition of information in order to maintain it in short-term memory or to transfer it into long-term storage. It is one of the simplest and most widely used encoding strategies.

Maintenance rehearsal keeps material active by rote repetition—repeating a phone number until it can be dialed. Elaborative rehearsal links the new material to existing knowledge, creating richer retrieval routes and producing more durable memory. The levels-of-processing framework emphasizes that deeper, more meaningful rehearsal yields better long-term retention than shallow repetition of surface features.

Rehearsal is effortful and capacity-limited. Distraction or the arrival of new information can interrupt it and cause loss of the unrehearsed items. Spaced rehearsal across multiple sessions is generally more effective than massed rehearsal in a single sitting. Students, actors, and anyone preparing material for later use rely on some form of rehearsal.

Repeating information deliberately is the most straightforward way to keep it from fading.