

After defused from Goku, in the Buu arc, Vegeta remembers how they badly
beated Buu. If Vegeta has memories of the times being fused with Goku, why
doesnt he learn his techniques such as the teletransportation, Genki Dama and
Kaioken?


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dragon-ball-series dragon-ball-z
Why Vegeta doesnt learn Goku's techniques after being fused with him?


In the Dragon Ball Z anime, fusion of two characters do NOT result in either
characters learning each other's moves and abilities. Example: When Gotenks
ran out of time, neither Gotenks or Trunks knew each other's moves.

Hope this answers your question.


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There doesn't seem to be a lot of information regarding this, but we have at
the least this premise about the Potara Fusion technique: At the end of the
time limit, the two fused together will be returned to their original selves,
so long as neither of those fused was a Kai. We have this as a premise because
Goku and Vegeta seem to retain their selves and unique personalities even
after the fusion ends.

Now, what does it mean for one to return to being their original self? For
Goku and Vegeta to be themselves, their memories and personality have to be
put back to the way they were before the fusion. If Vegeta now has some of
Goku's memories, then he isn't completely himself anymore. In this regard, it
seems that there are no lapses: we don't see Vegeta act like Goku, or vice-
versa, and they don't complain about retaining any memories. They both retain
memories of what happened while fused, because they both experienced this. So
if Goku or Vegeta retained one of the other's techniques, then they would have
each other's memories, and the fusion would not have been completely
nullified.

This would seem to be the case, but consider this: in humans, there are two
kinds of memory: explicit and implicit, and these are further divided into
subcategories. And based on studies, it seems these two memory systems might
be separate. Goku and Vegeta's memories of their past experiences would be
stored in their episodic memory, a type of explicit memory. Therefore, for
them to remain intact, the most important type of memory would be explicit.
Now, marital arts techniques would be retained in muscle memory, a type of
procedural memory, which is a type of implicit memory. I suspect it would even
be the case with techniques like the Kamehameha that they are stored, at least
partially, in muscle memory, because they are gained through training and
practice.

Since implicit memory and explicit memory are separate systems, let us
entertain the notion that after fusion ends, Goku and Vegeta retain each
other's explicit memory. In this case, it might be the case that they learn
each other's martial arts techniques. Even supposing this is the case, this
still will likely not be enough for Vegeta to use Goku's techniques. The
reason is thus: Vegeta still lacks Goku's explicit knowledge of the
techniques. There are two basic type of explicit memory: semantic, which deals
with factual information and episodic, which deals with recollection of every
day events. Both types are important.

To understand why, let's look at the Kaio-ken technique, and imagine Vegeta
trying to use it. King Kai sat Goku down and explained everything he needed to
know about this technique. There may be nuances about how to use your energy
and things one needs to keep in mind when using it. These facts would be
semantic memory. When it comes to wielding energy, these facts could be
essential when it comes to wielding energy (we can't know for sure, because
the mechanics of energy techniques are not well-defined in _Dragon Ball_ ).
Another important factor would be the actual memories of using the technique
from episodic memory. As for why this is important, we again return to the
Kaio-ken. Goku must have clear memories of being in extreme pain after
overusing this technique. Even more so than King Kai's warning, these memories
will tell him, "Hey, don't use Kaio-ken x 100, because it'll really hurt
afterwards!" But if Vegeta doesn't have Goku's implicit memory, he won't
retain this either after fusion, so he won't have any sort of understanding of
the technique or its drawbacks.

In conclusion, we suppose that it is a certainty that explicit memory of one's
counterpart is not retained after fusion. We concede that it may be possible
implicit memory is retained. But even in the event that implicit memory of
one's counterpart is retained, it likely would not be enough to learn the
other's techniques, because they would lack a full understanding of the
techniques.

## Sources:

I got all of this from skimming through memory category pages of Wikipedia, so
my knowledge on the subject is far from complete.

  1. [Memory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory)
  2. [Implicit Memory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicit_memory)
  3. [Explicit Memory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explicit_memory)
  4. [Muscle Memory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_memory)


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