How come our brains can convince us that we know the lyrics to a song while listening to it, when we really don’t
In: Biology
Memory usually relies on context. You see your grade 11 math teacher in class, you know who they are. You see them at the grocery store and you have no clue where you know them from.
If you’ve heard a song many times, the lyrics are familiar to you. You can sing along while the song plays because all of the context is there to cue you along. If you try singing it by yourself, you’re missing that context.
Once you know the song really well, you can start playing it through in your head and singing along that way. Otherwise, you need to put in some work memorising it.
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