Memory recall triggers

 

The first of these insights involved the types of cues that trigger involuntary memories. Laughland’s recorded observations about what was going on around him as the memories popped into his head revealed that “dynamic” rather than “static” environmental cues are more likely to trigger IAMs.

In other words, new or unexpected details encountered on his trips (e.g. varying weather conditions, or songs on the radio) were far more likely to trigger memories than those details that were always present (e.g. buildings or road signs). This finding highlights the somewhat ironic role that novelty plays in triggering autobiographical memories in our daily lives, with new details in our environment eliciting old memories from our past.

Memory "Chains"

Another interesting finding of the study involved memory “chaining,” in which memories are triggered by a preceding memory rather than by some other internal or external cue. Such memories can often be perceived as new occurrences, but Laughland’s retrospective examination of his audio recordings revealed that many of the IAMs that he perceived to be independent had actually been cued by a prior memory (or memories).

In fact, as many as 23 percent of the IAMs he recorded were chained memories, suggesting that memory chaining is more common than has previously been reported.

IAM "Priming"

Yet another insight provided by the study has to do with the “priming” of IAMs. Very often, an autobiographical memory will unexpectedly pop into our heads, seemingly out of nowhere. Laughland’s review of his audio recordings, however, revealed that many of the spontaneous memories that he recorded during his commutes were not, in fact, spontaneous at all, but had been triggered by cues that he had encountered several seconds or even minutes earlier.

At the moment, the time gap between the cue and the memory it triggered initially prevented him from perceiving a connection between the two events. But the recording revealed that the environmental stimulus had actually “primed” a memory or memories that he recalled later, seemingly out of the blue.

Laughland’s study, and the novel method he employed to gather data, provides evidence that involuntary autobiographical memories are a far more regular occurrence in our daily lives than previous research has suggested. It also gives new insight into how these memories actually occur, indicating that far fewer of them are truly spontaneous than appear to be, getting triggered by cues in our environment rather than simply popping into our heads out of nowhere.

One general point that the study makes clear is what a good opportunity our daily commute offers for experiencing involuntary autobiographical memories. Research on IAMs and related phenomena has shown that “spontaneous thoughts and memories occur more often when people are engaged in undemanding, habitual activities” such as driving.

In other words, when not focused on some task that requires focused attention, our minds tend to wander—and as this study shows, it is very often our autobiographical pasts to which they wander. And if we pay attention to these mind-meanderings during our morning commute, instead of tuning to NPR or cueing up a podcast, we never know where they may take us.

Indeed, given the right environmental cue, they might just lead us back to a cozy little library from our childhood—a brief mental vacation in our distant past to prepare for the busy day in our immediate future.