<p>Over the past decade, research has shown that the likelihood that an item will be remembered is highly consistent across viewers, tasks and stimulus types. This property is known as ‘memorability’ and is one of the strongest predictors of memory. However, it is still unknown what causes an item to be memorable and why this property is so consistent across people. In this Review, we consider the possibility that memorability measures tap into the efficiency with which visual information is processed and prioritized. We begin by discussing memorability effects on perception, working memory and long-term memory. We then unpack the concept of processing efficiency and suggest research directions to elucidate how processing efficiency can be quantified and related to memorability, and how memorability can be tested across other memory subprocesses.</p>