– how come we can remember lyrics of songs heard 10, maybe 20 years ago but we forget to remove the tea bag from the cup ?

Question

– how come we can remember lyrics of songs heard 10, maybe 20 years ago but we forget to remove the tea bag from the cup ?

In: 2868

Answer 1

Your brain has 2 boxes.Short Term Memory and Long Term Memory

And it takes subjective amount of time. based on the person, the experience, and their state of mind at the time, anywhere from several minutes to several hours for a memory to move from the “Short” box to the “Long” box. And if anything interrupts that process it can extend the amount of time it takes, or stop the process all together.

If memories you put in the short box can be tied to an emotion or a feeling, tend to get into the long box faster and more vividly, because you remember the feeling it gave you, and other the other parts of the memory more vividly.

All this is greatly helped by how much you enjoy the thing, and how often you remember the thing.

My best guess:

You can remember a song lyric because of the song and the feeling it gave you, and you’ve probably listened to it hundreds of times.

You forget to remove the tea bag because despite doing it hundreds or thousands of times, the best part about it is drinking it, not making it.

Edit:
This is why people with alzheimers, and brain damage resulting in Anterograde (going forwards from) amnesia. Means you’re unable to form new long term memories. Their ability to move memories from the “Short” box to the “Long” box is disrupted.

And in severe cases the ability to get memories back from the “Long” box can be disrupted, or completely interrupted.

I’m not completely up to date on the science, this is from my psychology studies from years ago. The theory might have changed since then.