A Funny Phenomenon

[Jens]

I wonder if people experience this kind of thing. Just now, I got a question from one of our contractors, and wasn't sure about the answer. So I walked over to my co-worker's desk to ask her. And the moment I opened my mouth to ask the question, I remembered the answer to the question. A similar thing happened the other day. I couldn't remember something, so looked it up on the Internet. And just as I opened the dictionary, I remembered it without having to look at the page. It almost seems like making the effort to do something brings back the memory. I'm guessing it could be a question of associations; maybe opening the dictionary somehow unlocks the memory or something like that.

[jaksichj]

I wonder if people experience this kind of thing. Just now, I got a question from one of our contractors, and wasn't sure about the answer. So I walked over to my co-worker's desk to ask her. And the moment I opened my mouth to ask the question, I remembered the answer to the question. A similar thing happened the other day. I couldn't remember something, so looked it up on the Internet. And just as I opened the dictionary, I remembered it without having to look at the page. It almost seems like making the effort to do something brings back the memory. I'm guessing it could be a question of associations; maybe opening the dictionary somehow unlocks the memory or something like that.

I would call it a coincidence that was serendipitous. Maybe there is more to it -- but I am not a psychologist nor a neurolinguist (pardon my spelling).

[kleindoofy]

... I'm guessing it could be a question of associations. ...
Yes, that's most probably the large part. However, discovering *what* the association really is can be tricky and even impossible. Often enough, it's not something obvious.

For instance, maybe you had discussed the matter behind the question from your contractor with your co-worker, so approaching her helped bring it back to memory. Maybe.

However, it's also possible that you walked past her desk two weeks ago after having just worked on that matter, or while you were thinking about it. That would be an association you would never be able to reconstruct.

People obviously usually opt for the first, more tangible possibility, but to quote Sportin' Life: "it ain't necessarily so."

[pzkpfw]

As a programmer I've often gone to ask a co-worker for advice and in the process of describing the problem figured out the answer.

So I actually began advocating (not seriously, but pretending to be serious, just among the team and my boss) that we have a desk dedicated to a shop dummy (mannequin) who would sit there pretending to be another programmer.

If someone had a problem, they'd go explain it to the dummy - and in the process figure it out themselves.

[closetgeek]

Compare it to having steady hands until you need to fit a tiny screwdriver into a tiny screw head, you suddenly develop the shakes. Someone asks you a question and on any other day, you know the answer, cold. When you have to think of the answer, you draw a blank and then stress yourself trying to recall the answer that lies somewhere in your stone soup of knowledge. The harder you think about it, the less you can recall. When you finally give up, it's removing the stress of trying to remember. All of a sudden your thoughts fall into place and the answer comes back.

[Jens]

The harder you think about it, the less you can recall. When you finally give up, it's removing the stress of trying to remember. All of a sudden your thoughts fall into place and the answer comes back.

Yeah, that's another good hypothesis, and one that occurred to me. It may be a sort of a mental block that we create ourselves.

[Fazor]

Could also be due in part to moving the "thinking" from the part of your brain that, well, thinks, to the part that vocalizes your thoughts. Maybe in the process something clicks.

[Ara Pacis]

I think it has something to do with how we encode memories. From what I've read, the hypothesis is that we encode visually when young and use language when we are older. Smells are also strong triggers for memory. I suspect that we use many of our senses to encode memories and recalling even basic facts can be stimulated be recreating the context which we used to help encode and index out memories.

I know that if I can't remember something I should know, but remember where I learned it I can recall the room in my head and the book I was reading and then I'll see the page in my mind and remember the fact. My recall from a book seem to improve if I but my head down in the reading position too.