Association and memory triggers.

It some times amazes me how memory works. For example, Today I saw a bumper sticker do hass (German for to hate) which then prompted thoughts on music. In particular a German band. I spent quite a bit of time trying to remember the name of the band. It was not until my brother mentioned Japan that I remembered the bands name as being Rammstein. For some unknown reason the mentioning of Japan prompted the remembrance of the German bands name.

This is not the first time I've recalled things in a weird manner. I sometimes lay back, relax, and let my mind wander. While my mind wanders the weirdest things pop up for seemingly no reason. Recently I had while letting my mind wander, thoughts on the Borg from Star Trek (an earlier post). I have no idea why. I did not watch or read any Star Trek recently. I wasn't talking about Star Trek with anyone.

This makes me wonder as to how memory is linked. Why do seemingly unconnected things trigger memory? I've read theories on how memory works but I haven't found one I like.

Since I'm curious here are five random words what is the first thing to come to mind?

Uniform, Ordinary, look, lining, sun,

Words taken from a Random Word Generator

Looking at the five words, the first thing I thought about was a little kid playing in a field. Why did those words for me trigger thoughts of a child at play?