Another curious feature of human memory is "spreading activation."1 Our memories are stored in interconnected neural pathways. When we try to remember something

Another curious feature of human memory is "spreading activation."1 Our memories are stored in interconnected neural pathways. When we try to remember something, we activate a pathway of neurons to access the targeted information. However, activation is not contained within one pathway. Some of the activation energy spreads to other connected pathways, like heat radiating from a hot water pipe. This spreading activation leaves related pathways primed for activation for hours.1 He frames this as negative in the next paragraph, but this sounds like the mechanism by which memory palaces work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci