Cephalopodcast

Siesta Key self-portrait, © Jason Robertshaw

I listen to a lot of podcasts. Most are pretty much topical ephemera. I would expect them to enter into my brain and depart as quickly as a joke on late night television. But there is this weird phenomenon whereby I remember segments from certain podcasts as I am walking through my day. It is as if the memory of the audio is stimulated by being in the place where I first heard it. For instance, here I am in the condiment aisle of my local grocer, deciding on which brand of mayo to buy and vividly recalling Robert X. Cringely talking about how Cisco reinvents the mainframe. Or back in 2006, here at this spot on the nature boardwalk, I remember listening to Richard Vobes mentioning his trip to Arundel Castle. Or a few steps later, recently hearing Ira Glass talking about getting his Testosterone checked. But if I try to recall them later, at a different place than where I first heard them, it is not nearly so clear or intense.

To me it is a sensation akin to Déjà Vu. Or is it Jamais Vu? Or something? Anyway, I need a name for this experience and for lack of a better appellation, I am calling it Déjà Entendu (not to be confused with the band).

And I am curious if anyone else has experienced this too. I also wonder if there is anything neurologically interesting about it that is worth considering. There is already plenty of evidence for the linkage between smell and memory. Can the same be true for audio?

Some osteological curiosities have been collecting in my cabinet inbox. It’s hard to articulate why I find these so humerus since some of them are quite gross.

• Michael Paulus: Skeletal Systems, a character study of 22 present and past cartoon cahracters
• Hyungkoo Lee: Looney Toons I and II
• Pac Man
• Bigfoot
• Grey Alien
• Hajime Emoto: Creepy

And if you want to take these things more seriously, try the teaching kits.