Do we really need a stimulus when we want to remember something...?

Question

I mean... can we really remember something at random, if nothing inside us or around us causes (stimulates) that memory... (for instance, an object or an experience to make us recall a former object or experience, etc.?) Is our memory associative, or can it be at times completely random?

Answer 1

Its true that our memory is associative,  and you just follow a link and it opens the floodgates for you.

But,  it can definitely be completely random at times.  I have been amazed by its total randomness...its like being struck by lightening all of a sudden.  It has made me wonder many a times where these thoughts come from?  Who puts them in our mind?  A trigger is much easier to understand or explain but suddenness is staggering...truly!

Answer 2

Sometimes a sharp rap on the back of the head helps me.

I would imagine I would to have at least followed a train off thought to get there.

Smell & texture are both strong stimulants to induce memory.

I have read where patients have been given a strong & unique smell & a textured cloth to feel every time they were administered drugs.

At some point they gradually lowered the does eventually being replaced by a pill that did nothing. The body ended up in many cases producing the equivalent of the drug each time it was prompted by the smell & texture. The connection between mind & body is amazing.

Answer 3

I don't know if it can be random...I'd lean towards the theory that it can't. I've remembered things at the strangest times...but if I observe closely to what's going on around me, I always seem to find a connection as to why that particular memory would come up. What I would really wonder about...is the purpose behind it...if there is one at all...

Answer 4

Yes.  The order of stimulus is.

1.  Smell

2.  Feeling (emotion)

3.  Touch

4.  Pictures

5.  Music (no words)

6.  Words.

There is nothing random in the whole universe!

Peace.

Answer 5

Only the creator knows.

I mean...we are what we have been fed. If one has not been to a country[No other sort of informatiom-input], one can never perceive, let alone remember, anything associated with that country. Nothing random can ever happen!

Discovery of such a country, is also not random!

Answer 6

My memory can be random....

It amazes me when I remember something out of the blue....

I try to find reason, a cause.. but... nothing!

Just a memory coming like that!

Answer 7

Wow you really paid attention during that psych chapter.

thats deep.

Answer 8

I would say the memory is mostly associative.  Besides the senses triggering memory, you can also have a train of thought that leads fairly straight from what you started with to what you are currently thinking about.  Of course, you might forget exactly where you started....

As for stimulus helping memory, I'm testing it today.  For two months I've asked for a toilet seat to be installed (I purchased it).  Now it is sitting in the appropriate office.

Answer 9

I intuit that our memory only appears 'random' to our conscious. At our busy subconscious, stimuli seldom reaching our conscious mind trigger memories.

Answer 10

Memory is associative, but it can work in the subconscious -so we sometimes can't even figure out what it is that is triggering a certain memory. At other times, the connection is obvious because the stimulus affects the conscious mind as well.