Conference hydra::dejavu

    It could be synchronicity.
    
    It could also be more mundane.  In some freak cases, the fillings
    from some people's teeth have actually picked up radio waves and
    have converted them into signals the person with the fillings can
    "hear."
    
    This might be the explanation of your experience.
    
    I say that without ruling out other possibilities, of course.
    
    Steve Kal;lis, Jr.
    

    	I have read about people who heard music when certain parts of
    their brains were surgically or chemically stimulated, the theory
    being that the music - and all other information we hear - is stored
    and always kept in the brain (the ultimate gigabyte system!), all
    of it available if we know how to open those "files".
                                                                      
    	Larry
    

    
    
    	Yeah, I've had that experience, too, once or twice.  And, I've
    heard about the filling fenomena -- usually the person with the
    filling will be able to hear a tiny tinny sound -- I don't know
    if others would be able to hear it as well, but I'm glad my fillings
    don't do that because I like to be able to choose the station or
    turn it off as I please (spoiled aren't I?).
    
    	

    Apparently, the fillings-as-radio-detectors phenomenon varies with
    regards to signal strength, geographic location, etc.  It may also
    be a function of the "receiver's" physical state.
    
    One construction worker in New York City was so bombarded with unwanted
    radio shows many years ago, he ended up having the offending tooth
    pulled.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

    	No thoughts on the "mind storage" idea, huh?
    
    	Larry
    

    I had fillings put in back in '66 now all I get is radio shows from
    the 60's! ;^) 

    I just wish my fillings could carry a tune.  The bluegrass they
    seem to like is a little hard to take when played off-key. 
    Seriously, the reception seems to be altered in pitch and
    *heard* slightly after the radio transmission. Why do I have to
    be the only person in the world with syncopated teeth?  It's
    distracting to say the least.
    
    I, too, have heard of the *mind storage* stuff.  There's a note
    about it in an old Psychology Today text I have lying around.  
    Unfortunately there is no reference associated with it.  The note
    details different perceptions (auditory and visual) experienced
    with electrical stimulus and human subjects.  Different parts of
    the brain elicit different responses apparently.  There is also
    an unreferenced *map* of trigger points in the brain - kinda like
    the acupunture charts. 
    
    Maureen
    

RE: .3 (&.7)
    
    Electrical stimulation of certain parts of the brain does indeed,
    sometimes elicit brief apparent "reliving" of previous events. 
    There is no special association with music except that the first
    time this effect was noticed, the memory happened to be of a musical
    tune.  Frequently the "memories" are of sensations (if those are
    indeed memories rather than electrically stimulated sensations which
    in turn trigger memories of something similar).
    
    I do not wish to downplay the importance of this discovery to an
    understanding of the way that memories are stored in the brain,
    but much is made of this phenomena which is simply not there.
    
    Psychologists have known for at least a century that there are "hidden"
    memories -- things which are "remembered" but cannot be recalled.
    To leap from this fact, whether supported by the "purely psychological"
    or the neurlogical evidence, to the belief that everything we have
    ever experienced is "recorded" somewhere is unjustified and almost
    certainly incorrect (there is a fair amount of evidence which suggests
    the opposite).
    
    Memories are "accessed" by means of chains of associations.  If
    there is a break in the direct association chains, the memory is
    "lost" -- it becomes impossible to recall.  Very indirect chains
    sometimes exist which allows the memory to be "recalled" under somewhat
    random conditions.  Electrical stimulation of the brain is equivalent
    to a set of *very* random associations and are likely therefore
    to "dredge up" some very random stuff.  That there are memories
    which are not directly accessible to our consciousness but which
    nevertheless exist is undeniable.  That *all* "forgetting" is due
    to broken associations is unlikely.
    
    In any case, the question is not whether memories of the tune exist
    but what "associations" caused the memory to be brought to consciouness
    when this only seemed to be appropriate because of events which
    would normally seem completely unknown at the time.
    
    				Topher

    
    Another psychic radio concept of sorts is one I heard Lionel Richie
    mention on the Barbara Walter's special the other night.  He said
    his songs came to him as if he were tuned in to a radio station
    somewhere.  He claims he actually hears the songs,  lyrics and music,
    complete in his head.  When he starts singing them, he realizes
    they've never been recorded before.  
    
    As I tend to hang out with musician types, I've gotten this kind
    of feedback before.  
    
    Maybe some kind of "collective pool of music" some people can tune
    in to?  along the lines of "colllective memory?"
    
    
    anita

    
    In the latest issue of _Fate_ magazine, there's a filler item to
    the effect that a woman under medical care was "receiving" music (i.e.,
    was hearing it).  Her doctor conjectured it might be caused by her
    fillings, but just before he was to suggest she be examined by her
    dentist, he lowered her dosage of aspirin (which was significantly
    above normal) by half.  According to the filler, the music stopped.
    
    Steve Kallis

RE: .11
    
    Why do you feel that the source of music that Richie (and others)
    tap into is "collective" rather than individual?
    
    					Topher

RE: .12
    
    For those who don't know, one of the first symptoms of aspirin overdose
    is a ringing in the ears.
    
    Furthermore, if you feed random sounds to people they subconsciously
    try to make sense of them and will hear something definite when
    its "just noise".  This is similar to seeing pictures in clouds,
    but in sound it tends to be even more definite.
    
    This is because under "natural" conditions in the wild, its safer
    to make the mistake of thinking that there was a definite noise
    when there really wasn't than thinking that there wasn't when there
    actually was.
    
    When I was a computer operator working the late night shift (many
    years ago), and the entire building was empty except for me, I would
    sometimes entertain myself by listening to the "voices" whispering
    in the air conditioning.  I never quite understood what they were
    saying.  This worked much better when I was really tired.
    
    				Topher

RE: .12 & .14
    
    Besides an overdose of aspirin, some decongestants will make you ears
    ring.  Also people with tinitus have a ringing in there ears all the
    time.  I suffer from this.  The explanation I got from an audiologist
    was that because of the damage to the part of my hearing apparatus that
    detects high pitched sounds, my brain was "generating" those sounds.
    Fortunately, when I got hearing aids and put them on, the ringing was
    reduced substantially.  I've never "heard" music as described in the
    previous replies.  It has always been a steady tone.  I have dreamed
    about music but that probably belongs under a different topic.

    Mike

    	Thanks for your input on the psychic radio topic. Your idea
    of "mind storage" is something i hit on one night. I had the idea
    that once a person has a thought, that thought can be gone to again
    (in the mind ) and built upon . I don't see any reason why the mind
    couldn't store everything we encounter. I would love to be able
    to get into something that I could use to train my mind and begin
    to use the large percent that so many scientists say we have potential
    for , but never use. I personally feel that if we can learn to use
    the total powers of the mind, then we will see the answers to so
    many unanswered questions. I have also heard that thoughts exist
    and the mind is just like a tuner which recieves instead of conceives.
    
    
    regards,
    Steve Blanchard

When the first "Star Wars" movie came out, a musician named Meco had a pop hit
 with a disco version of the Star Wars theme music.  Having absolutely no taste
  at the time (hey, I was a teenager), I was into pop stations and that song.

In the summer that that song was a hit, I was working in a little store, with a
 radio tuned to the local pop station ("96 Kix" or somesuch).  The radio was
  usually off.

A few times a day, the song - or, more specifically, the introduction to the
 song - would suddenly be on my mind.  I would switch on the radio and, invar-
  iably, that song would just be starting!

I thought this was pretty eerie.  I thought maybe it was just that the radio
 folks had the attention span figured out, so I started writing down the time
  it was played.  Nothing there.  I then left the radio on all the time and
   wrote down the times.  Turned out I was picking it up each time that song
    was played, since the number of times they played it each day was the same.

I'm not keen on the idea that I have some kind of psychic affinity for commer-
 cial pop schlock on a hit radio station, so I tend towards an explanation that
  involves brainwaves somehow coinciding with radio waves.
   <_Jym_>

    	This is not meant to be a snide remark, but "hit" radio
    stations play Top 40 music so much, you're usually bound to hit
    any of the latest songs almost at random.
    
    	Larry
    

    Or, possibly, you could just faintly hear another nearby radio.
     I have often found myself humming some tune or other, then hearing
    it on a radio (or muzac), and realising that subconciously I had
    heard it and started humming...
    
    /Bevin

{RE .18} - Like I said, I wrote down the times between plays.  Hit radio was
 going heavy on the song at the time, and the times between plays *was* short.
  Something like an average of 2-3 hours.

{RE .19} - This was in a camp, in the middle of nowhere.  No other radios
 around.
  <_Jym_>

P.S.:  While the idea of a collective musical source has been popular in liter-
 ature (the muse), I would suspect that given Lionel Richie's derivative pop
  style, his source - or, rather, sources - lie elsewhere.

    Not even car radios?
    
    /Bevin