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 ...