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 memories come and go – reminders of the life we’ve lived – with little need to act upon them.
For one Singaporean woman, however, a mix of seemingly inconsequential and unrelated cues recently evoked memories of her cycling accident 27 years ago, prompting a search for the couple whom she believes saved her life then.
THE CYCLING ACCIDENT
Jacqueline Gan was 24 when she was hit by a car while cycling.
The accident happened at the junction of Marymount Road and Marymount Lane at 6.15am on Dec 18, 1998.
Gan recalled being lifted “some distance into mid-air”, before collapsing onto the ground. Despite her light-headedness, she remembered seeing “a lot of blood” flowing from her face onto her blue Catholic Junior College T-shirt – and then, a car stopped beside her.
The Chinese couple who stepped out of the vehicle were “uttering in Singlish Mandarin, wondering who could’ve knocked me over, and said they needed to quickly bring me to the hospital”, she recounted to CNA Lifestyle, after reaching out via email in May, hoping to get her story heard.
“I was just so dazed and helpless, I just got brought into the car. And that was it.”
