P:A limitation, despite such apparent support, is that the research studies supporting the MSM use artificial materials.•E/E:In everyday life, we form memories related to all sorts of useful things(people's faces, names etc). However, many of the supporting studies for MSM didn't use these realistic materials, but rather digits, letters and sometimes words which hold no meaning.•L:This suggests that the MSM lacks external validity. Research findings may reflect how memory works with meaningless material in a lab setting, but MSM may not be an accurate/valid model of how memory works in our everyday lives, where we have to remember much more meaningful information.