Have you ever, say, walked into the kitchen and then stopped cold and said to yourself, “Wait. What did I just come in here for?” Perhaps, in this scenario, you walk back to the room you came from, where you see an empty mug sitting next to your laptop. Then it hits you like a bolt. “I was going to put water on for tea!”
The mug, in this case, serves as something psychologists call a “memory cue.” And it’s one of the key concepts that helped explain a curiosity that Will Dowd from Salem has had for years.
Dowd has eclectic taste in music. From Ella Fitzgerald to Jaimie Cullum to the Talking Heads, he loves to sing along to his favorite songs in the car. And while he said he’s not particularly skilled at hitting the right notes, he is quite good at remembering the words.
“Ninety to ninety-five percent of the time, I’ll know what the lyrics are because it’s accompanied by the music,” he said.
But a funny thing happens to Will when the music isn't playing. If he tries to remember those same lyrics — lyrics he sings all the time, to some of his all-time favorite songs — he can't remember them.
“I can’t get past the chorus," he said, "or I can’t get past a certain point of the song.”
And so, Will reached out to GBH's Curiosity Desk for help.
“Why does music help us remember lyrics? That’s my curiosity,” he said. “I thought that might be something you could investigate.”
For answers, we turned to a couple of phycologists who specialize in unlocking the mysteries of memory. They enlightened us about those memory cues, explained how deeply connected music and lyrics can be in our memories and shared why singing one of your favorite songs is a little bit like swinging a nine iron.
Hear the full story by clicking that big red play button above.
If you have a question you’d like the Curiosity Desk to take on, email us at CuriosityDesk@wgbh.org.
