Words out of Nowhere?

I've recently seen a discussion in my writers forum which sparked my interest. It started with the headline "Have you ever used a word..." and went on to describe this weird occurence when you write away on your story and use words because they fit, and later discover that you have no clue what those words actually mean.

I was surprised to discover that this phenomenon happens even to native speakers of English (I always thought it happened to me because I learnt English as a second language--if it happens to me in German too, I haven't noticed it yet).

Strange enough, in most of the cases, the unknown word fits perfectly (as verified with a dictionary).

How can this be? Magic? A muse with a good dictionary whispering words into our ears?

Although I like the idea of my muse sitting on my shoulder and leafing through a dictionary to find the right word for me, there is a simple explanation for this. When we read or hear a new word, our brain saves it somewhere. Most of the time, we can't remember the meaning when we come across it for the second time although we might vaguely remember having it seen or heard somewhere before. It usually takes about three times before a new word wanders into our passive memory, meaning that we are able to recognise it and remember its meaning when we come across it. At that point, we are usually not able to actively use this word in writing or in a conversation because we just won't remember it on our own. To be saved in our active memory, we need to come across it six times or more.

Now, when this phenomenon happens, it certainly is strange enough since it means we unconsciously used a word that wasn't yet stored in our active memory, maybe not even in our passive memory. However, it is not magic. To be able to use a word at all, we must have come across it before, even though we might not remember it.

So, while my muse isn't sitting on my shoulder leafing through a dictionary, she might well be surfing my brain for the best-fitting word....