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?
I have a very specific visual memory. But that is a double edged sword as I also remember some traumatic memories with finite detail and often re-experience those. I've been in 9/10 car crashes in my life (only one was my fault) and especially re-experience the large pull-ups in detail.
As for working memory; if I'm given chance to visualise something, then I can commit it to memory very reliably. That includes quite long numbers like bank cards or telephone numbers