There is often no telling what cues would trigger which memories long buried. You could catch a whiff of someone’s perfume on the bus, and just like that, remember the year it took to get over an ex who smelled the same, along with the hobbies you picked up to fill the void.

In cognitive psychology, this phenomenon is known as an involuntary autobiographical memory chain. These spontaneous recollections unfold as a sequence of associated memories, each one triggering the next, without conscious effort.

Often, these m...