what happens in the brain when you draw a blank on a name?

Question

I’m talking about those things that you normally know but may forget momentarily. It’s like your brain draws a blank or can’t access the info. What causes that when it happens?

In: 912

Answer 1

The analogy I heard that I like is the “local minimum” problem. The word you are looking for is the lowest point on the “landscape” of all the words. The problem is you get stuck in a valley- it isn’t the lowest point but every direction you try to hop is “up” so you don’t think that is the right direction and go back into the valley. The solution is to make a bigger hop and try to get out of the valley.