The first of these paths concerns the fact that some nostalgia triggers are more effective than others, and therefore I've been hard at work analysing affect cues, de-constructing a typical scene into fundamental triggers and classifying them, which then allows me to re-construct the scene by using the triggers in a targeted & creative manner, maximising their effectiveness.
Mechanisms
In his book A Theory of Fun, Ralph Koster identifies that certain mental processes release endorphins, giving a feeling of elation. Formal psychological research into nostalgia show that this feeling can be very strong indeed.
Last year I identified that particular mechanisms have differing relative strengths of effectiveness:
- Olfactory (smell) -- very strong indeed
- Visual -- good
- Mechanical -- more powerful than visual
- Auditory -- OK but seems to be less strong than visual
- Returning to a location -- very strong
- Interpersonal -- discussion of common memories (this came up very strongly in the original research)
Efficacy
Isolated Trigger -- this is a trigger which brings back memories of experiences with the item itself. For example, seeing a Rubik's cube might remind someone of the fact that they owned one in their childhood.
Cascade Trigger -- sometimes this chemical release spreads to related memories; this cascade of triggers accumulates into a powerful affect within a short period of time. For example, someone who sees Kodak 110 film for the first time in years (presuming, of course, that they are familiar with it)...
...may also immediately recall the camera in which it fitted (in this case, a Pocket Instamatic)...
and maybe even the disposable flash cubes which were used with the camera.
Whammo! Three triggers for the price of one. (N.B. Not sure if 'Whammo' is a proper academic term.)
Indirect trigger -- this is an interesting one. Sometimes it's possible to use the cascade effect to force someone to fill in a missing gap. For example, the item below is the corner piece of a Rubik's cube.
Someone seeing this lone piece might be reminded of the whole cube, because so many Rubik's cube owners have taken the toy apart and would recognise the unusual shape.
Indirect triggers work very well without visuals, too. Consider the following phrase:
In those of a suitable age this phrase will conjure up images of the Smash Martians accompanied by tinny robotic voices saying the phrase and then laughing.
Mis-remembered trigger -- It's possible, in some cases, that the viewer might mistake the trigger for something else. That's not usually a problem so long as some emotional affect takes place.
One of my friends knows that I am a massive fan of legendary British sci-fi comic 2000 A.D. and has fond memories of it himself; he refers to it by the mis-remembered name "A.D. 2000". To add to his confusion, though, if he searched on the web for it he might actually find images from the original "dummy" pilot issue produced by the publishers.
 |
| (Left) The unreleased pilot issue of 2000 A.D. comic (Right) "Prog 3" from 1977, featuring "Flesh" (Dinosaurs vs. time-travelling cowboys from the future. Ah, they don't write 'em like that anymore...) |
Range
Primary trigger -- this relates to memories of interacting with the item itself.
Secondary Emotional Trigger -- this involves a broader emotional response because it unlocks associated feelings, such as childhood happiness or trauma. An example of this might be a bag of cola cubes, reminding someone of joyful school-day visits to the sweetshop.
Secondary Experiential Trigger -- some items have an associated action. Examples of this include the Evel Kneivel Stunt Cycle, which usually launched with a meandering wobble and fell over on its side. (This particular example also demonstrates the cascade trigger effect, because the toy had a red-and-white friction winder which had its own associated action & sound.)
 |
| The young Chuck Norris becomes the only person to ever get it to do a wheelie and drive in a straight line. |
Mixing different types
The different types mentioned above can be mixed in constructive ways.
Extending the indirect example above, seeing further remnants of a disassembled Rubik's cube may bring back memories of the sinking emotional feeling experienced the first time the toy came apart in their hands, and they will also recall the clatter of loose pieces and the "snap" of clipping them back into place.
This visual indirect trigger gives immediate rise to a secondary emotional one. It also brings secondary experiential effects, including memories of mechanical & auditory cues. Thus, instead of just showing a boring Rubik's cube, a much more powerful affect can be constructed.
Two images of "Funny Talk" doll are shown below. The doll's head was attached by a string which -- if pulled -- caused the doll to speak one of several silly phrases ("I'm falling apart!", "Here comes my bo-dyyyy!"), while winding the head back in.
 |
| Mattel "Funny Talk" doll, part of the Talk-Up range (1971). |
The right-hand image is a much better way to present the item. By directly reminding the viewer of the string mechanism it ensures the secondary experiential effect. It also allows those who are not familiar with the toy to experiment with the mechanism and gain enjoyment -- an important factor with more obscure triggers.
This approach starts to move into the theme of "theatre" which will be discussed more fully in the next blog post.
"Less famous brother" effect
A combined indirect-cascade trigger works by avoiding more popular items in favour of (slightly) more obscure associated ones, aiming to gain a strong "I haven't seen that in ages!" reaction to the obscure item but still indirectly trigger memories of the more popular item via a cascade of memories.
I call this the "less famous brother" effect. Examples are shown below.
 |
| An octagonal barrel cube variant of the Rubik's cube. |
 |
| Raleigh Tomahawk bicycle, the junior version of the Chopper. This is also a nice example of a two-way trigger: some viewers may instead mis-remember it as the Chopper itself. |
 |
| TCR Racing (1981) -- it's not Scalextric! Slotless, so you can change lanes and do jumps. |
Not overdoing it
The following image shows a cube barrel in a mixed state. At first this appears to be a "better" trigger because it mixes indirect-cascade with secondary experiential cues, but in my opinion this actually loses some effect because it's not as instantly recognisable as the plain barrel cube (image shown previously).
This is certainly debatable and open to further investigation, but it highlights a need to avoid overcomplicating things.
Conclusion
This has been a very worthwhile exercise, producing a formal description of the different types of trigger which will be extremely beneficial to my project work.