It continuously occurs to me of how incredible the brain is.
The human brain is able to link different information together with each being a sort of trigger.
You may have noticed this whilst being at school and taking an exam.
When you study for an exam, you remember certain information in small amounts. When a word in a question relates to the information, you can remember the answer. However, that takes effort. Studying and revising.
The brain seems to also link other information like memories to pieces of information. Theses links seem to be completely effortless. I'll give you some examples of some links my brain has made:
1. One random day, several months ago, I was playing DayZ in a random server. My father just arrived home from work and came in and began telling me a few things. He mentioned his friend, Michael, and how his wife had cancer. At the time he was saying this, I was still playing DayZ (The conversation had been going on for about 30 minutes already) and I was (For anyone who has played it) in an area that headed into a warehouse which contained some empty tins. Now, back to the present, my father had finished work and was talking to me about the wife and that she had gone into remission. Randomly, once her name (Maria) and the word"cancer" was mentioned, I immediately remembered that game session of DayZ and it felt as if I was still playing it.
In the above example, DayZ had absolutely nothing to do with cancer yet the mention of the cancer triggered an insignificant memory to come forward in my brain.
So on to example number 2.
2. This was a good 6/7, if not more, years ago. I was with a friend in his mother's car. We were headed to the shopping centre (Knox shopping centre, if anyone was curious) and a random song had come on the radio. There was no conversation occuring at this point and the only sound, besides the song, was the mother singing along. So, back to the present again, and I had just downloaded a music album as I liked a few of the songs and decided to check out the rest as well. As I was listening to the music, the 7th track began to play. At this point, I was gaming and wasn't focused on the music. Boom, the above memory flings itself into my mind, and I feel as if I'm there, as if I'm there and not the younger version of me.
Wow. It's crazy how these memories are linked with random triggers.
Now, you know what the above 2 (And the upcoming) examples have in common? Each memory is insignificant. Memories that I never even gave a second thought.
The third and final example (A short one as well) that I'll be posting right now is this:
3. For this one, I don't have a date but it is possible (However, challenging) for me to obtain. Firstly, I must mention this: I tend to listen to music when gaming or reading. It relaxes me. Anyway, I had decided to begin reading 'The Walking Dead' comics and to start off, I put some music on. I settled on a song I'd like to listen to and began reading. Now, obviously the (roughly) 5 minute song didn't last the entire issue. But it's the song that linked. Every time I hear that song, it reminds me of 'The Walking Dead' comics. Not just the first issue, but it reminds me of all the issues I've read. Also, if I begin to read an issue, I remember the song.
In the above example, I don't believe that the song has linked every issue to it but instead that the song is linked to the first issue and the first issue is then linked to the other issues. It's quite amazing.
Also, I have a rough date of the when this occured, October 31, 2010. Now, I gathered that date because I had watched the newly released Walking Dead series that a friend had referred me to. It was a little after October 31 but that's as close as I can get. A little under 3 years ago and this link is still occuring. Amazing, isn't it?
Anyway, I hope I amused you and informed you of a function that the brain can perform, and without any required actions. Let me know of your thoughts below.
The human brain is able to link different information together with each being a sort of trigger.
You may have noticed this whilst being at school and taking an exam.
When you study for an exam, you remember certain information in small amounts. When a word in a question relates to the information, you can remember the answer. However, that takes effort. Studying and revising.
The brain seems to also link other information like memories to pieces of information. Theses links seem to be completely effortless. I'll give you some examples of some links my brain has made:
1. One random day, several months ago, I was playing DayZ in a random server. My father just arrived home from work and came in and began telling me a few things. He mentioned his friend, Michael, and how his wife had cancer. At the time he was saying this, I was still playing DayZ (The conversation had been going on for about 30 minutes already) and I was (For anyone who has played it) in an area that headed into a warehouse which contained some empty tins. Now, back to the present, my father had finished work and was talking to me about the wife and that she had gone into remission. Randomly, once her name (Maria) and the word"cancer" was mentioned, I immediately remembered that game session of DayZ and it felt as if I was still playing it.
In the above example, DayZ had absolutely nothing to do with cancer yet the mention of the cancer triggered an insignificant memory to come forward in my brain.
So on to example number 2.
2. This was a good 6/7, if not more, years ago. I was with a friend in his mother's car. We were headed to the shopping centre (Knox shopping centre, if anyone was curious) and a random song had come on the radio. There was no conversation occuring at this point and the only sound, besides the song, was the mother singing along. So, back to the present again, and I had just downloaded a music album as I liked a few of the songs and decided to check out the rest as well. As I was listening to the music, the 7th track began to play. At this point, I was gaming and wasn't focused on the music. Boom, the above memory flings itself into my mind, and I feel as if I'm there, as if I'm there and not the younger version of me.
Wow. It's crazy how these memories are linked with random triggers.
Now, you know what the above 2 (And the upcoming) examples have in common? Each memory is insignificant. Memories that I never even gave a second thought.
The third and final example (A short one as well) that I'll be posting right now is this:
3. For this one, I don't have a date but it is possible (However, challenging) for me to obtain. Firstly, I must mention this: I tend to listen to music when gaming or reading. It relaxes me. Anyway, I had decided to begin reading 'The Walking Dead' comics and to start off, I put some music on. I settled on a song I'd like to listen to and began reading. Now, obviously the (roughly) 5 minute song didn't last the entire issue. But it's the song that linked. Every time I hear that song, it reminds me of 'The Walking Dead' comics. Not just the first issue, but it reminds me of all the issues I've read. Also, if I begin to read an issue, I remember the song.
In the above example, I don't believe that the song has linked every issue to it but instead that the song is linked to the first issue and the first issue is then linked to the other issues. It's quite amazing.
Also, I have a rough date of the when this occured, October 31, 2010. Now, I gathered that date because I had watched the newly released Walking Dead series that a friend had referred me to. It was a little after October 31 but that's as close as I can get. A little under 3 years ago and this link is still occuring. Amazing, isn't it?
Anyway, I hope I amused you and informed you of a function that the brain can perform, and without any required actions. Let me know of your thoughts below.
