Mental Mapping and Dream Interpretation
I had an epiphany on my way to work, in the form of a false memory. Bear with me here - this may get a bit convoluted. A chain of tangentially-related but mostly insignificant memories marched through the front of my brain: saw a car that reminded me of a former coworker who drove one; couldn't remember her name but remembered a different coworker's name. Remembered the bellman who gave that coworker a nickname. Nothing important. But then I realised I was remembering the wrong bellman. If you have worked in hotels, or stayed in them often, you know there's That Guy Bellman - the one who's been there forever and knows everyone and everything. He's a pleasant fellow and you are glad of his welcome when you arrive, whether you are a guest or employee. The incidence of there being That Guy at every hotel is an isomorphism . The pattern is so similar that you can mentally map it from one set to the other. In my false memory, I clearly remembered That Guy from ...