Published on 12, July, 2020
I've not Googlerated this so I'm starting from quite a low point of knowledge.
I know that we can tend to have very good memory in certain areas and I know about the autistic savant.
So, what do you know about how our memories work and why?
Mainly though, what is your memory like?
What do you remember and what do you not so well?
I have an autistic friend and he can quote back to me the day of the week, date and year a lot of events happened - small events, things like the day we went on a day trip somewhere over the whole of his life - he's 63.
I don't have that kind of gift but I have realised in recent times that my memory is quite unusual.
I do remember being in the pram and then the pushchair.
However, what I remember really well is places, events in my life and people and the things that people say, going back all 6 decades.
I can mentally walk through every room of the places I've lived in during my life and even where the furniture is.
How about you?
After nearly five decades, I'm finding that my memory can be hit and miss.
Unlike some members here, I can't remember all the lyrics for a song (just random bits), or the entire script for a film.
My short-term memory can be lousy. My long-term memory is better, but the things I remember can be random and not particularly useful. For example, I might remember conversations that were had in the past, but am often useless at knowing the answers to quizzes.
I spent the first few months of my life living in a flat. I have zero memories of it. However, I can remember the rest of the homes I've lived in (not many), the furniture, and how they were decorated. I can also remember the former homes of my relatives and friends.
My sense of direction used to be brilliant. I can remember staying with my Grandma on one occasion, and she had used a shortcut I was unfamiliar with to drive back from her nearest town to her house. About a year or so later, at the age of 10 or 11, I successfully managed to navigate my mother to my Grandma's house using that same shortcut. To be honest, it had seemed more like instinct than memory, but I felt proud of myself because the shortcut consisted of several turnings we needed to take.
I can remember phone numbers dating back to my early childhood. Until mobile phones came along, I seemed to have no difficulty remembering phone numbers, especially if they were the phone numbers of my friends and relatives.
I used to be able to remember phone numbers back in the days when we had to physically dial the number, in fact I can still recall a few but not necessarily who they belonged to! I think its because they have a pattern to them in the way they sound when you say the number that makes them memorable