Why are we able to remember something we could not remember once we go to look it up?

Question

For example, I couldn’t remember the name of a pizza place I’ve been to a few towns over. I sat on it for about 10 minutes, for some of the time consciously thinking about and doing other things, then decided to google ‘pizza places in x town’ and as soon as I typed in ‘pizza places’ the name of the restaurant popped into my head. Why does this happen?

In: 5

Answer 1

It’s an interesting thing. It’s like we need to send the subconscious mind into a massive archive. Much like the X-Files or Indiana Jones. Then wait for the file to be received.

Answer 2

Have you ever looked it up before? If so, your brain was probably triggered by that memory.