How would you describe your memory?

I have the memory of an elephant.

FutureMemory.

Well, if memory serves I used to have a pretty good one. However, as time goes on…

wait, what was I talking about….

(sigh!)

LOL!
That’s how!

Mine is quick….quickly forgotten.

It depends on what I am attempting to remember. I can hear a song three times and sing along without missing a single lyric, but when I have to list the parts of language on a test, it is virtually useless.

I have no memory of my childhood before the age of around 5/6yrs. I mean, I must have been alive, my mum told me I was there at the time, but any memories? Nope!
That’s been the case since I was an older child, never could recall walking on this rock even.
So i’d describe my memory as pretty crap really.

Can I explain without words ?

@rebbel Those calendars are crap, not a date to be seen on them!

My memory is pretty poor also and it feels even worse having seen the exceptional people in the video link above, including Marilu Henner, who have a detailed memory of every day in their lives. I can hardly imagine what it would be like to have a memory like this, but I am envious.

My memory is about as good as my attentionSQUIRREL!

Bunch of random facts and events. Can’t explain it better than that.

Oh, I completely misread the question at first glance. I thought it said “money”, not “memory”.

Unfortunately, the same answer applies in both cases: “gone”.

My memory is OK compared with my friends and colleagues. But my memory is like that of a vegetablbe compared to those who remember everything.

(damn – the internet just threw me off as I pressed “answer” and now I can’t remember what I wrote! And that’s the truth! Okay, here’s an attempt at it:)

I have a great memory for faces, and for things people have said ad verbatim, but not for their names. I have a good short term memory whereby I can teach a 2-hour workshop to a group of strangers and remember all their names for the entire workshop (so long as they don’t switch places) but forget them the second they’ve left the building. I can remember things from my childhood, and vividly from my teens, but something that happened just 5 years ago can be completely forgotten.

My grandmother has a wonderful memory and tells fascinating stories, which unfortunately I don’t remember beyond each telling (they are usually stories of family members long since gone that I can’t put a face to…).

My computer connection tonight is a problem, so I haven’t watched your video link @flutherother so forgive me if my answer isn’t quite on topic

@SuperMouse When you are able to sing a song having heard it a few times, is it that you are able to sing along to the song when you hear it, or are you able to sing the song entirely off your own back? (it’s the music teacher in me asking….)

I saw that 60 Minutes program with Lesley Stahl a while back. Autobiographical memory is amazing. Even at my best, my memory was nothing like those in the clip. Menopausal hormones seem to have really diminished my once sharp memory. Friends and family were always impressed with my ability to remember minute details about specific events and people. I use to love to meet someone for the second time and remember intimate, personal things they told me at the first meeting, or mention a book or a piece of art I saw in their house. Now, not so much.

Now, It is just like Swiss Cheese. Some things stick, some don’t. No rhyme or reason to it. It is rater sad, really. It was actually pretty good until my accident. Now I make a quite good Trival Pursuit player. Because of my habit of not focusing on one major but having several while I was in college I know bits and pieces of many different subjects. I really was rather unfocused.

Fair to middling. I forget what middling means.

It used to be legendary. People at work came from all over the building to ask me about things.

Alas, it has gone the way of my youth.

My short-term memory is a bit iffy. For instance, if my wife reads me a recipe, I will forget what the first ingredient is by the time she is halfway through the fourth.

As for my long-term memory, it borders on photographic. I remember the layout of all eight houses I lived in when growing up, the license plate number my mother and stepfather had both before and after the state switched to a new style and re-issued plates 25 years ago, and other minute details from long ago.

Needless to say, I have a slightly odd perception of the flow of time as well; I guess that’s a natural consequence of remembering five years ago better than I remember five minutes ago.

Mine used to be stunning, then I had chemo and my short term…

Weed has done a fair bit of damage to my memory, but I would put my ability to remember well above average. It is also quite autobiographical as with the people in the video, but I can’t give you a date for anything at all. I can instantly recall some events in my life that go way way back, but they are usually all of some importance.

I can tell you what I had to eat 10 years ago, if I had a special night 10 years ago, I can tell you what I had to eat today, yesterday, and at a push the day before.

I always used to consider my memory to be very good, but it is nothing compared to these people in the video.

Selective.

Like a steel strainer.

I use to have a memory like a steel trap. Now the spring seems to be weakening. Long-term memory is as good as ever, but sometimes I forget what I walked into the next room for! Heh!

Dubious at best…..

I remember trivial things to my wife’s amazement but she’s not amazed when I can’t remember what she said 3 minutes earlier. And don’t even ask me to stop for directions, that is a sure way to get us lost like bastard on Father’s day.

My short-term memory leaves a lot to be desired, I have a wonderful memory for numbers I can remember our family phone number from the 1960s and my memory for further back in the past is reasonably good, although I had to admit there are a few gaps….

@flutherother I’d have to say my memory is variable. I have a pretty good memory for numbers. Someone told me a phone number to call while I was out this morning. I had a notebook with me but no pen, and my cell was out of charge. I still remember the phone number, even though I was able to borrow a pen a short time later and put it in my notebook. I have a small phone directory in my head, and also bank account numbers, of course the SSN number, PINs for cards and even my selective service number from the Navy back in 1962.

Names, I am terrible with. Unless I make a conscious effort to grab it, when introduced to someone I will chat a bit with them to “get to know them: and before leaving have to ask again for their name.

Even celebrity names are tough for me. It may just be because I am not the least star struck, so I don’t put that much energy in that area of memory. But the other day I wanted to say something about the acting in the original Star Trek series, and for the life of me, I couldn’t dredge up William Shatner’s name. I could think of Captain James T. Kirk, Spock and Leonard Nimoy, tons of other characters and the names of who played them alongside him in the series. I could think of Denny Crane and James Spader, who played Alan Shore in Boston Legal. I recalled tons of facts associated with Capt. Kirk, but the actor’s name eluded me. I refused to turn to Google for help, and mystically, 2 days later, the correct name just appeared as if from nowhere in my memory and I instantly flashed back to the frustration of not being able to recall it when I was discussing the show and could have used it.

My memory has always been like that.

Things have started changing rapidly since I started taking drugs that change my brain chemistry. Almost immediately, I started having trouble retrieving the names of things. Not people—I’ve never had a good memory for people’s names, but things like the name of a statistical technique. In addition, I’ve been losing words.

This happened before I got sick, but pretty rarely. After I got sick, it became a daily event, and it has been getting worse and worse. Some people tell me that it could well be a function of age. This kind of thing can start happening in your mid forties. It didn’t start happening to me until I was 51.

If it is age, I’m sure the drugs exacerbated it. It’s not like the words are that lost. More like they are hiding. I know what I’m looking for, but it won’t come out. So I go to the thesaurus online and start with a word I can remember that is like the word I’m looking for, and usually I can find the word. But it’s a pain in the ass.

My memory is insane! It’s not like that video though – how cool would that be? It’s photographic and quite detailed. I remember things vividly from about age 2.5 and on. If I’ve seen it once there is a good chance I’ll never forget it. (as of yet) I freak people out often with my bizzaro ability to never forget things down to the smallest detail – even decades ago. However, my short term memory is lame.

@JessicaRTBH Isn’t it strange how those two seemingly conflicting abilities can exist side by side in a single brain?

@ETpro – indeed. I always thought that was odd.

Like Swiss cheese. What lands on the solid part stays, what falls through the holes passes through and is gone forever. It’s just the way it is. It’s kind of, sadly, random.

What memory?

One good thing, though, I am forever finding money that I forgot that I had. It would be better if I actually had more money, of course, but I always am suprised and delighted when I find “extra” money!

I was quite amused to see a video of one of the six people with perfect memories, Marilu Henner, sitting in a taxi looking flustered and rummaging through her handbag because she couldn’t remember where she had left her purse.

My memory is like a sieve full of macaroni. Hot, dripping wet and delicious. Oh wait. That’s not my memory. I already answered this question, I think.

@ZEPHYRA Unfortunately, “an elephant” is probably not your password. :P

I also have another of the brain injury benefits: good long term memory, pathetic short term memory. I still remember much of my childhood, but if it wasn’t for my calendars I would never remember to do anything now. It just highlights the fact that memory is stored in two different parts of the brain. Now my Rehab Medicine Doctor now has put me on Aricept, an Alzihmer’s medicine. Aparently it has been shown to help in saving areas of your brain involved in executive functions. I haven’t started taking it yet. I’m somewhat concerned to be taking seven medications from age 41 on, but if it will help, than I’ll add it.