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I discovered that I could listen to This American Life while playing Borderlands (and its sequels). The game doesn't have characters that talk to you nonstop (especially when you are playing side missions) and something about the shoot-y gameplay meshes extremely well with talk radio.

The weird part is that the two mediums got completely and inseparably tangled together in my memory. When I think of a specific This American Life episode I can instantly recall the 3d layout of the level that I happened to be exploring while listening to the episode. And when backtracking later in the game I see the terrain features and the ideas and important parts of the show flood back into my mind.

I find it very strange, and very interesting, too.




That's really cool! I experience the exact same thing. I used to listen to Stern everyday for years. When I hear old shows with memorable parts, I can remember the exact location, time of year, lighting, and weather of the moment when I first heard it. And when I think about various locations, times of my life or things that I did, I start to remember moments from the radio show.

It's really fascinating how our brains form strong memories through these auditory and visual associations. It seems like the more interesting the the sources are, the more likely you'll remember it for many years to come.




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