Whenever I read articles or studies about scientific approaches to "restoring" memories, particularly approaches involving pharmaceuticals, I instinctively assume there's a significant metacognitive counterpart. Surely mental/psychological techniques and external stimuli have an equal or greater impact on memory retrieval?

I have a bizarre personal anecdotal experience with spontaneous memory activation. I was leaving work one evening, and I'm recounting a dream from the night prior to a colleague as we left.

Suddenly, in what felt like an instant, I began to rapidly recall a chain of lucid dreams I've had. Dreams I hadn't remembered in years. I remembered not only the dreams themselves, but my life's circumstances when I had them. I describe this as a chain, but it felt to me more of a... portal. As if inside each of these dreams was a connection to the next.

I awkwardly paused, said a brief goodbye, and returned inside to look at myself in the mirror. My pupils were very dilated, and I felt like I was on psychedelics.

The strangest part is that this... connection has persisted. If I try to recall any of these dreams, including writing this comment, I'm unwillingly transported through these memories, and I have to consciously focus elsewhere.

No idea what to make of this, but it's definitely interesting.