Do you remember facts?

[Montresor]

Pretty basic.

I'm making this a poll in the spirit of gathering raw data.

Might be biased but it's as good as it's gonna get for me.

The question is: do you find you have a certain aptitude for recalling specific facts or data? Pertaining to dates, names, numbers, values ...

Do you find that you can remember specific certain facial expressions or verbal expressions for years?

Do you have an inner classification system that primarily zooms in or zooms out?

Or, the opposite...? You can't remember anything like that. Your memory relates more to concepts and broad generalizations, and does not observe the same yearning for specifics?

 

[The Introvert]

The question is: do you find you have a certain aptitude for recalling specific facts or data? Pertaining to dates, names, numbers, values ...

No, I do not. I often flounder when attempting to recall hard statistics, or names.

Do you find that you can remember specific certain facial expressions or verbal expressions for years?

Funny story about that. I sometimes play a game where I take a mental snapshot of a random person's face on campus when I walk by. I try to remember enough people, day by day, that I can eventually predict what people I will see, and when (assuming people stick to schedules). It works sometimes; I recognize many people that I see on campus in other places (and in the same places on campus).

Do you have an inner classification system that primarily zooms in or zooms out?

It's easier for me to understand something small and how the combination of small actions lead to larger results. So, I'm zoomed in, but the 'energy' (for lack of a better word) flows outward.

Or, the opposite...? You can't remember anything like that. Your memory relates more to concepts and broad generalizations, and does not observe the same yearning for specifics?

This, more often than not.

 

[Jennywocky]

I remember details if they are relevant to me in some way.

However, what usually happens is that my mind figures out patterns the data contributes to, remembers the pattern, and tosses any irrelevant data. It only stores linchpin data.

It's another reason why I don't care to get into debates that involve fine-tooth combing of data. I like to discuss concepts, but I don't have all the specific detail close at hand and then have to spend time recreating/reresearching it... and not all discussions are worth that effort, even if I have the time.

 

[patchtrix]

I , like jennywocky, tend to remember details only if they are relevant. Otherwise I am terrible with short term memory of remembering phone numbers, names of people I just met; etc. It makes it hard to do more than simple arithmetic in my head because I can't remember all the numbers.

 

[Publius]

My sister suggested to me recently that I have an eidetic memory. It wasn't something I'd heard of, but she might be right. I remember the most ridiculous trivia from the past. A family member will start a story such as 'remember on his 6th birthday when he...' and I will continue the story with something like 'yes, I remember I was wearing that blue t-shirt with the shark on it. And then after that Alex spilled ice cream on his trousers. Then Rupert got annoyed with me and told me I was acting like I owned the place...then we played skittles and I won despite only joining the game in the last run' (all of these are actual memories of birthdays...)

I'm pretty good with dates too, and I also know Pi to 10 decimal places, which might seem trivial and easy, but I am in absolutely no way mathematically able or inclined (odd for an INT, I know), as I remember it phonetically, and visually, as opposed to mathematically.

I also took piano lessons for some years and was a sensationally unremarkable pianist! I would stumble through pieces we learned from books. Learning a piece of music I had never heard played from scratch was difficult and time consuming. However, one day my dad (an accomplished player) was playing all the songs from the songbook I was working from, and he played the last one in the book and I really liked it. I got him to play it again and watched him, then after spending a few hours with the sheet music, learned it perfectly. I played it to my piano teacher the next day and she couldn't understand how I had managed so well to play this but everything else I learned sounded absolutely crap...

Here's the same piece, from the same book (yeah, I remembered the title of the songbook, a good 12 years on ) on youtube (I played it better than this guy!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVEvIY_CZB4

If I sat down at a piano now I could still play it.

 

[thekatspajamas]

I remember concepts, but rarely details and the quantification of those concepts lol. It was both a blessing and a curse in college.

 

[Vrecknidj]

What are facts?

 

[Hadoblado]

I've often wondered if my poor recollection of details drives my intuition. I rely very heavily on mnemonic techniques, abstractly siphoning information in order to successfully encode it. If I don't possess the capacity to process information effectively at a sensing level, does this imply that functional preference adapts to ability? Does my need to check for logical inconsistencies in the data I've collected drive my Ti?

 

[Fukyo]

I have a good memory. I'm not terribly good at memorizing things on demand and then retaining them for a long period of time, but I remember a lot of details and factoids that I both need and don't. I usually remember what was said/done/what happened years back and it sometimes gives people the impression that I'm a stalker or creep.

I remember the most ridiculous trivia from the past. A family member will start a story such as 'remember on his 6th birthday when he...' and I will continue the story with something like 'yes, I remember I was wearing that blue t-shirt with the shark on it. And then after that Alex spilled ice cream on his trousers. Then Rupert got annoyed with me and told me I was acting like I owned the place...then we played skittles and I won despite only joining the game in the last run' (all of these are actual memories of birthdays...)

I'm like this too, except my early childhood memory is all over the place, incomplete/fuzzy and without a consistent timeline to use as reference.

My recall is very associative - it gets tipped off by things happening in real time, or pieces of incomplete memory, it's fairly easy to track back to more accurate memories that aren't readily accessed.

 

[JimJambones]

I am pretty awful at recalling facts on demand. Often I verbalize the wrong fact out of my head and have to correct myself before proceeding. If the subject is of interest to me I may memorize facts about it or memorize a quote or phrase I enjoy, but generally a fact either sticks in my head or doesn't; I usually don't try to interfere with the process one way or the other. I am much more interest in the main points or ideas being discussed. Focusing too much on the details can frustrate me.

 

[Brontosaurie]

remember lots of shit but not reliably unless i make an effort

 

[HDINTP]

Usually only concepts but when it is something I truly care about here and there I can recall few of them...

 

[scorpiomover]

I used to have an appalling memory for dates, or facts, that I couldn't relate to.

As a kid, I could only remember formulas in school. History and uses of things in physics, never used to stick, mainly because at the time, it was taught as meaningless facts.

I used to be really into watching TV and films. I could remember the TV times completely. My family would even ask me what was on, instead of reading it themselves, as it was easier. I also used to have a very detailed memory for films.

I also really struggle to remember what I did yesterday, what I'm supposed to be doing tomorrow, and even what day of the week it is.

I also used to be really poor at recalling stuff on demand. I can recall stuff when it's in the service of some piece of logic. But not usually when I'm put on pressure to recall it specifically.

I'm better with history these days, because I pick the stuff that I want to learn about, and how I learn about it, so that I learn stuff that is useful to me, and that stuff tends to stick a lot more.