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?

Question

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

In: Biology

Answer 1

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.”