Weird how we remember things, songs in particular!
One particular afternoon at The Wise Idiot, while everything was going supernormal and super fun, one of us decided that it was the perfect time to sing out loud. It began with him singing jingle bells (well, I guess it’s Christmas at work every day) and each one joined in and it was soon a choir. But it was time for one of us to mess up the lyrics, because, obviously!
This particular event of messing up lyrics struck a rather thoughtful and important conversation at work: how does one remember things?
Well, ‘things’ is a subjective term and could mean anything; ranging from situations, notes, theory, stories, events and a zillion more elements which include the lyrics of a song, too!
Well, in this particular blog, I’ll be explaining how one remembers things keeping the lyrics of a song in mind. Because, who are you kidding, everyone loves music! And everyone tries to relate themselves, and everything that happens to them with the lyrics of a song.
There are 6 distinct ways that one remembers the lyrics of a song:
Primary Effect: Under this particular effect, a person remembers things because they very associate the entire situation to what comes in the beginning or how it started. Now, if we think of a song we remember because of what happened in the beginning, I would definitely think of ‘Say Shava Shava’, because who would ever forget Amitabh Bachchan’s voice saying “ Aye ji badshaho, ki dekhre ho tussi? “
Conclusion: one remembers Shava-Shava because of the primary effect of remembering.
The Recency Effect, is quite simply when we remember something because it came out recently and is still fresh in your memory. To give an example of a song, ‘Apna Time Ayega!’ That’s the one that came out recently, and it is catchy enough to stick to your memories.
Repetitive Effect: Well, just as the name suggests, the repetitive effect is when one remembers something purely because they are listening to it on repeat. A great example of this effect on songs is when you listen to a new song, end up loving it, make that your entire playlist, listen to it on a loop and eventually after about three weeks, get hooked to a new song.
I am currently going through a phase of Two Ghosts by Harry Styles.
Distinctiveness Effect: I mean, it’s right there in the name. This is where you purely remember something because it has/had something unique and stands out.
For example, you might cringe a little at the sound of this, but the name and the lyrics totally works for the song, everyone remembers it! It’s ‘Aa ante Amalapuram.’ If you’re thinking of, or are going to tell me you don’t know such a song, you’re lying.
Association Effect: You remember such situations because you associate yourself or your current life with the song. A classic example would be how people went nuts when ‘Channa Mereya’ came out and all the one-sided lovers suddenly found the entire meaning of their life!
Reconstruction Effect: Oh well, it’s not new that people forget parts of situations, and definitely not new when people forget a particular stanza of a song. At times like this, the best possible way out is to ask your brain to fill those spaces with whatever it feels like; more so, to fill the spaces with anything that seems the closest.
Now, I know that the example I am going to be giving is going to get a huge ‘I relate with everyone, Jiya Jale guys!’
Everyone has their own version of the first paragraph. My version goes something like:
Mundiri Mundi Kungikyun
Munduru Munda Chundikyon
Munduru Munda Chundari Vaave
See! My own composition. I’m sure you have your own way of remembering it.
If you think about it, humans do have a weird way of remembering things. And, up until now, I didn’t realize there could be six different psychological ways to remember things and particularly songs!
Well, I am going to get back to singing Jingle Bells!
Ciao!
Originally published at https://thewiseidiot.in on October 1, 2019.
