Why is it that, even when you’ve heard and memorized hundreds of them, you can’t think of a Joke when asked to tell one?

732 views
0 Comments

Virtually every other kind of knowledge is often much more easily recalled when asked about, why not jokes?

In: Biology

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

**Please read this entire message**

—

Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):

* Information about a specific or narrow issue (personal problems, private experiences, legal questions, medical inquiries, how-to, relationship advice, etc.) are not allowed on ELI5 (Rule 2).

—
If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this submission was removed erroneously**, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/gkedva/-/%0A%0AThe%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0ALink%20to%20your%20search%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20the%20ELI5%20subreddit:%0A%0AHow%20is%20this%20post%20unique:) and we will review your submission.

Anonymous 0 Comments

There are two overarching types of memory: recall and recognition.

Many things are never encoded into recall memory, that’s typically reserved for super important things. Most things go into recognition, especially if only seen once or twice way in the past.

So, when you try to think of a joke, you can RECALL the basic premise maybe but not the actual structure. That said, if someone then told it to you, you would RECOGNIZE the joke as one you’ve heard before.

Memory is way more complex than this, such as how cascading can cause recall in something that you previously only recognized, but that’s the basic idea.

EDIT: a word

Anonymous 0 Comments

Memory is contextual. If you’re recalling something from memory, you’re also recalling things associated with it, like where you learned the thing, what you were doing at the time, etc.

If you’re recalling a joke, you’re likely also in a related situation to the original memory — a group of friends, a feeling of relaxation, joy, humor, etc.

If someone prompts you out of the blue — tell me a joke, dammit — your memory is struggling to pull the joke “file” without the additional context usually associated with that “file.”