The correct answer to this open question is the following.
You are trying to remember a shortlist of letters, numbers, or words after seeing or hearing them once. If it takes you more than four to six seconds to repeat the list, you will forget some of the items due to memory consolidation.
This is a psychological term that refers to the fact that what you learn depends on the time you spend learning new things or experiences. Some of that information will go to your long-term memory through a series of chemical modifications in the nervous system. After you get a new concept, your memory needs to stabilize that information. It has two processes: synaptic consolidation and system consolidation.