I think there are lots of factors that can make it easier to remember certain facts. Building associations with existing knowledge helps a lot especially when a

I think there are lots of factors that can make it easier to remember certain facts. Building associations with existing knowledge helps a lot especially when attaching it to something that triggers emotions. Tying spacial information also is very powerful at least when you can access the information via the spacial association. I recently learned a lot of Kanji vis SRS and tried different techniques to beat the memory curve. For example mind palaces worked incredibly well for remembering a ton of new Kanji in order. However, when they came up out of order I frequently couldn't remember them or only remember where in my mind palaces they belong, but not their meaning. A better structured mind palaces could have probably helped. I think you might be able to remember the arrow in the car because you spend so much more time behind the steering wheel than filling up the car and have a easier time putting the arrow in the context of the controls you look at frequently. It's much easier to connect to existing memory.