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Congruent Memory: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Congruent memory (also called [[wikipedia:State-dependent learning|state-dependent learning]] according to [[The Other Wiki]]) is the idea that someone who learns something in a certain environment or emotional or physical state is more likely to remember what they've learned when in that same state. For example, if a rat learns its way through a certain maze while drugged, it may be able to run the maze ''only'' while
When this phenomenon shows up in fiction, it's often played for comedy: Usually a character will have to precisely replicate the circumstances in which he or she learned something in order to be able to recall it, or the circumstances themselves will be somewhat bizarre (or both).
Obviously [[Reality Is Unrealistic]], because while this is a legitimate idea in modern psychology, it's never taken to the [[Up to Eleven|absurd levels that fiction shows]].
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▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* Tatewaki Kunô and his watermelon training in ''[[Ranma
* In book 9 of the ''[[
==
* ''[[Archie Comics]]''
** There was one ''Betty and Veronica'' comic where Veronica was studying for a test while lying on the floor of her room. When the day of the test came around, she couldn't remember any of the
** In another ''Archie Comics'' story, Jughead could [[Snowball Fight|throw snowballs]] easily, but couldn't get the same feeling when handling a normal baseball.
** In the same vein, Jughead was once scouted for the opera thanks to his bombastic singing
== Films -- Live-Action ==
* Used almost by name (Fink calls it his "theory of Drunken Recall") in ''[[Beerfest]]''. Jan Wolfhouse has to get utterly plastered to recall how to get to the secret underground beer-drinking contest.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Akeelah and
== Literature ==
* In the [[Robert A. Heinlein]] novel ''[[Glory Road (
* One of the pieces in Douglas Adams' ''The Salmon of Doubt'' says this is why you can't remember your New Year's resolutions. When you write them and put them away, you're in a post-party state: stuffed, hungover, dehydrated, possibly ashamed. Once you're back to normal, you forget them until the next time you're in the same state, next New Year's Day.
* Marcel Proust's [[Doorstopper|mammoth novel]] ''Remembrance of Things Past'' is centered on the flood of memories triggered by the scent of a madeleine (a particular kind of cookie).
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* Cam Jansen, a girl detective from a series of kids' books, says "Click!" when hunting for clues, then later repeats it to help herself remember the details of what she saw. This is explained as her having a "photographic memory," but is closer to this trope in practice.
** [[Don't Explain the Joke|Because "Cam" is short for "Camera", see?]]
* In the tale of Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves from ''[[
== Live-Action TV ==
* In ''[[Friends]]'', Joey practices for a commercial by repeating, "Mmmm, soup," while eating tomato soup. When auditioning for the commercial, they use a bowl of noodle soup and he is unable to get the simple "Mmmm, soup" line right.
* ''[[Malcolm in
** In an episode, Hal goes bowling and gets a strike every time. As the episode goes on, he develops an increasingly elaborate routine for throwing the ball, to the extent that toward the end, Hal refuses to let one of his observers go to the bathroom.
** There was another episode where Francis teaches Otto to waltz, to surprise Gretchen on their anniversary. But when the moment comes, Otto fails miserably. He comes to realize he could only waltz with Francis.
* Played for a non-comedic (although somewhat absurd) bent in the Season 4 finale episodes of ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'', where the good doctor tries to fight the amnesia that is crippling his ability to diagnose what may be afflicting victims of a bus crash he just survived. Ultimately subverted in that he chooses to just fry his frontal lobe with electricity to induce the memories ({{spoiler|and a seizure -- that should have shredded his brain, what with the wires inside it}}).
* In ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', initially Isaac Mendez could only use his precognition powers while drugged on heroin. However, he later learned how to use them without it. And since everyone else who's acquired that power since has been perfectly able to use it straight away, one suspects it was a [[Magic Feather]]. A different character has a similar problem with alcohol.
* In the "Get Down, Study-udy-udy" episode of ''[[Hannah Montana]]'', Miley creates a song and dance to help her remember all 206 bones in the human body. On the day of the test, she can't remember them because she can't dance and sing.
* On ''[[Fringe]]'', [[Mad Scientist|Walter Bishop]] frequently requests different foods while recreating his old experiments; his son Peter explains to Agent Dunham that he's trying to recover his memories. Often these food requests are for commercial food products that are no longer in production, leading to Walter purchasing multiple brands trying to find the one that comes closest.
* One episode of ''[[Dharma and Greg]]'' features Larry, Dharma's post-hippy memory trainwreck father, regaining his memory every time he smells Hai Karate.
* In the ''[[
== Web Comics ==
* Tedd of ''[[
* In ''Funny Farm'', Ront's brother Pom keeps failing tests due to being [[Distracted
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[
** SpongeBob practices driving while blindfolded. When it comes time for him to take his driving test, he finds he can't drive without the blindfold. Oddly this one provides a justification: when he can see what he's doing, it terrifies him.
** Another episode had him forget where he put his nametag. So he repeats his morning routine ad infinitum, ''exactly'', until he remembers.
* In an episode of ''[[Arthur (
** Possibly [[Truth in Television]] for anyone who has ever tried to remember the order of the alphabet, and sung the Alphabet Song. Or who find themselves [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNb9AoY5XXE singing the Preamble to the US Constitution.] (Note: the song ''does'' omit part of one line to scan better...)
* In ''[[Family Guy]]'', Peter could play the piano only when plastered. However, it wasn't a straight example of this trope. They didn't suggest this idiosyncrasy was because he learned to play the piano while drunk. Instead, apparently without learning to play or practicing beforehand, he just inexplicably developed a talent for playing the piano that required him to be drunk.
* On ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'', Grandpa learned to play golf by watching a video presented in rhyme. He could then only hit the ball correctly if he first recited one of the rhymes. When he came to a particularly daunting hole that the video didn't cover, he made up his own rhyme, and was still successful.
* Averted on ''[[South Park]]'': Towelie claims that, since he was high when he learned the passcode to enter the secret government base, he needs to get high in order to remember it. Once he ''does'' get high, all he manages to do is pound on the front door keypad to reproduce the [[Epic Riff]] from "Funkytown".
* Played straight in an episode of ''[[The Flintstones]]'', in which Fred took ballet lessons to improve his bowling skills, and then find that he can only bowl perfectly to ballet music.
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** Often justified or subverted in that the objects or situation that made you go to the other room in the first place may still be there.
* Or tried to play quarters without drinking?
* Often invoked as "study aids" for students. This is why, among other things, you're supposed to be sitting at a desk as you study the
** Many teachers also recommend studying in conditions that will exist during the exam. Set a time limit equal to how long you'll have on the exam. Use the exact same pencil. Depending on if the school allows it, you can even go to the classroom and sit in the seat you'll take the exam in and study there.
* On a related note, you're supposed to only use your bed for sleeping<ref>and sex, of course</ref> because if you try studying in bed, you'll find yourself getting sleepy because you've strongly conditioned yourself to associate your bed with sleep.
** This works both ways. Some people have problems with insomnia because they've stopped being conditioned to associate their bed/bedroom with sleep. The remedy for this is to move things like computers, TVS, and exercise equipment out of the bedroom and to minimize non-sleeping time spent there.
** This is also why is not a good idea to stoke yourself up on coffee or energy drinks to cram in your revision, as you won't remember it until you're stoked up on coffee or energy
* Studies have shown that smells are also quite good at evoking memories. So study while wearing a ''highly unique'' perfume and then wear it again the day of the test. Legend has it the ancient Greeks were fond of rosemary.
* Averted with performance under extreme stress. It used to be approached under two theories: learn the action normally and then apply stress ''versus'' learn action under stress. Extensive research has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the former is a far better way. In the book ''Extreme Fear'', the author goes into the psychology, but essentially your brain shuts down too much in panic mode and focuses only on what it knows will work for it to learn successfully while under duress. So learn calmly, and then introduce distractions.
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