Memory and Recall

[SurfD]

On the topic of Ededic memory, is it true or just a myth that teaching someone with Ededic memory the WRONG way to do something can have a serious impact on them, since once they learn something wrong, geting them to "un-learn" it and do it the correct way is extremely difficult, if not impossible?  Or do they just end up learning two ways to do something, and discarding / never using the incorrect one?

[ezrast]

How are you guys so sure you are remembering year-old conversations word-for-word correctly? Honest question.

[Ironwood]

This whole geek wank reminded me to tell you that if you haven't watched Brookers Black Mirror Trilogy, you SHOULD.

The second one is all about the perils of remembering everything.

[Fordel]

I want to know why I can effortlessly remember my 16 digit credit card number, but can't for the life of my ever remember when it expires. Or why I can recall these huge random password strings, but forget birthdays and appointments.


Enormous random alphanumeric strings, no problem. My mothers birthday? God help me if I didn't write it down in 15 places.

[apocrypha]

Repetition, personal importance and patterns.

You read/type/say your credit card number multiple times over months & years. You need to remember your mother's birthday only once a year.

You don't forget your own birthday.

A 16 digit number is long enough to create a kind of pattern in your mind that distinguishes it from other memories. A date is just a date and there are 364 other dates with similar patterns and some of them are very, very similar to the one you're trying to remember.

[MahrinSkel]

Yes, to the point where I sometimes have to ask myself why I remember these seemingly useless bits of information...though it's been failing a bit in places lately. Perhaps it's the mefloquine, or just fatigue. 

I've had the experience lately of picking up books I know I have read sometime in the last decade, opening them at random, and not having a word-for-word recall of what will be on the next page.  I still remember all the substantive plot points of the book as whole, but the details (especially of dialog rather than exposition) escape me.  I'm 42, I suppose it was inevitable.

--Dave

[MahrinSkel]

How are you guys so sure you are remembering year-old conversations word-for-word correctly? Honest question.

Because it also works for email correspondence and forum discussions, where I can check the original.  And there have been a few occasions where a video or audio record existed (home movies and such) where my recall (detailed before viewing) matched exactly.

Beyond that...there's a *feel* to it, it's "sharp", not fuzzy liked something half-remembered and half-reconstructed.  When trying to repeat dialog from a movie, I have to reconstruct from context, but when it was an actual conversation I participated in it "rings true", I *know* it is correct.

--Dave

[Boedha]

This whole geek wank reminded me to tell you that if you haven't watched Brookers Black Mirror Trilogy, you SHOULD.

The second one is all about the perils of remembering everything.

Seconded. I found it an extreemly well done trilogy. I do think that the memory one is the last one. The second one was on 'gamification', well more or less.

[ajax34i]

There is a drawback to eidetic memory [...] The capability for reasoning and for drawing conclusions, especially reasoning by analogy or similar mental tasks are somewhat diminished.

That sounds like a bullshit theory.

Counter-example:  I can remember numbers easily.  I haven't practiced remembering numbers or invented a mnemonic device / system for myself, I just kinda remember them.  And based on my performance in school, my reasoning and mental capabilities are quite above-average.

[Ironwood]

This whole geek wank reminded me to tell you that if you haven't watched Brookers Black Mirror Trilogy, you SHOULD.

The second one is all about the perils of remembering everything.

Seconded. I found it an extreemly well done trilogy. I do think that the memory one is the last one. The second one was on 'gamification', well more or less.

Really ?  I thought it was fucking a pig, reality tv shows, then facebook memory.

Which I realise as I type, would make me wrong and it's the third one.  Wank.

THIS IS WHY I  NEED A BETTER MEMORY.

[Jeff Kelly]

Anecdotal counterexample makes it "a bullshit theory"? Well OK then.

BTW remembering numbers without much difficulty != eidetic memory.

[Lantyssa]

Yes, to the point where I sometimes have to ask myself why I remember these seemingly useless bits of information...though it's been failing a bit in places lately. Perhaps it's the mefloquine, or just fatigue. 

Maybe it's Ebola.

[Hammond]

How are you guys so sure you are remembering year-old conversations word-for-word correctly? Honest question.

That is a difficult question to answer.  For me its not like it is instant recall.  Something triggers the memory and it goes off playing like a video or a record.  The easiest way for me to see it in action is that at my last job I had a lot of correspondence through email / tickets.  I could go back and refer to conversations years earlier in near perfect clarity.  I always blur names / phone numbers for some reason but the conversation and content I can still refer to. 

[Slayerik]

I believe I drank, smoked, and tripped my memory away.

Does anyone else recall very little from your high school days? I mean, I think it's pretty normal to lose a lot over 15 years but man.....I don't remember shit! I forget things almost instantly these days. I'll be going to grab my GF a snack and come back empty-handed, distracted by something else. It's weird.

[01101010]

I believe I drank, smoked, and tripped my memory away.

Does anyone else recall very little from your high school days? I mean, I think it's pretty normal to lose a lot over 15 years but man.....I don't remember shit! I forget things almost instantly these days. I'll be going to grab my GF a snack and come back empty-handed, distracted by something else. It's weird.

Yes, I agree with the first part. Only rarely do I do the second part.

I have become more curious as to some of these psych studies popping up around here concerning memory and past drug use. I should pay a little more attention to them since I would more than likely qualify for the bulk of them.

[CmdrSlack]

I believe I drank, smoked, and tripped my memory away.

Does anyone else recall very little from your high school days? I mean, I think it's pretty normal to lose a lot over 15 years but man.....I don't remember shit! I forget things almost instantly these days. I'll be going to grab my GF a snack and come back empty-handed, distracted by something else. It's weird.

Yes, I agree with the first part. Only rarely do I do the second part.

I have become more curious as to some of these psych studies popping up around here concerning memory and past drug use. I should pay a little more attention to them since I would more than likely qualify for the bulk of them.

Don't bother, you'll just space it.

[Sheepherder]

You don't forget your own birthday.

I have, in the sense that I have been oblivious to it's proximity until after it had passed.  Which is kind of funny, because I knew there was a description of the simulation in the back of the Simcity 2k manual.

[Ingmar]

You don't forget your own birthday.

Around age 34 or 35 I started having to stop and think to answer correctly when someone asked how old I am.

[Der Helm]

You don't forget your own birthday.

Around age 34 or 35 I started having to stop and think to answer correctly when someone asked how old I am.

Oh my god.

I am not alone in getting senile.

[Ghambit]

A lot of the issue with senility is the mind isnt treated as it should be (post-education), just like a muscle.  Use it or lose it. 
And since neuroplasticity is the new baby-jesus of neuroscience, yes you can re-build your mind to learn things you might think you cant even as an older adult.  This of course lead to theories on how to prevent early-onset Alzheimer's.

Sorry if I'm sounding like an infomercial but here's a few other things that help:
http://www.positscience.com/our-products/brain-fitness-program   (cutting edge system that takes an auditory approach to plasticity; great for kids with learning disorders)
http://www.ultramind.com/  (a nutritional approach; I actually know the author personally.  He's probably a top-5 nutritional/preventative medicine guy in the US)

Biggest issue with all this crap is Time of course.  Most people don't have it and once you do you're distracted by GAMES/wfie/kid/neighbors/boss whatever.  Really, you've gotta set aside time every day for this and make sure everyone knows to leave you the fuck alone.

[lamaros]

I have a pretty clear memory, but it used to be a lot better when I was at high school and did a lot of math. In university I studied philosophy and english, and I have found that my memory works a bit differently to how it used to. I remember things in context/the subtext of things very well, but I am not as clear on specifics.

Of course, maybe I'm just more self-aware, and my memory is generally failing.

[apocrypha]

You don't forget your own birthday.

Around age 34 or 35 I started having to stop and think to answer correctly when someone asked how old I am.

That's not what I said.

Your age does not share all of the characteristics of your date of birth. Your age changes each year, you use that number rarely and there are plenty of other numbers similar to it. One year it's 34, the next it's 35! The date on which you were born never, ever changes.

[Boedha]

http://www.ultramind.com/  (a nutritional approach; I actually know the author personally.  He's probably a top-5 nutritional/preventative medicine guy in the US)

Hmm, that site has a very scammy feel to it. An endorsement by Dr. Oz? *yay pseudoscience* and, really, having a 'cure autism' story in there doesn't help.
Could be that I'm too skeptical, but it doesn't seem very trustworthy.

[Ghambit]

http://www.ultramind.com/  (a nutritional approach; I actually know the author personally.  He's probably a top-5 nutritional/preventative medicine guy in the US)

Hmm, that site has a very scammy feel to it. An endorsement by Dr. Oz? *yay pseudoscience* and, really, having a 'cure autism' story in there doesn't help.
Could be that I'm to skeptical, but it doesn't seem very trustworthy.

Many of us don't approve of his methods and some have told him so.  He still does it 'cause he's likes money.   
And unfortunately most anti-aging preventative medicine stuff is indeed pseudoscience.

I just take the basic tenets of what he's saying and move on.  You'd be a fool to buy into it completely.