Abnormal memory for certain things

I have an above-average ability to remember sequences of numbers.

gallagher wrote:I have an above-average ability to remember sequences of numbers.

That's usefull, I never managed to learn any phone number except my own. And I still don't remember the number of my student ID, my library card or my cell phone. Rows of numbers are not something I can really learn by heart.

I think I have an average short term and long-term memory when it comes to numbers.
But usually, I have an easier time remembering patterns instead of numbers. I always memorize patterns when I am going to memorize a phone number, the number of my library card, digit-codes and so on.
Sometimes I use either methods, sometimes I use both.

i have a bad memory for places and people but like stranger i remember film lines and i remember song lyrics

my memory disappeared after i started taking drugs

My memory sucks. I'm really bad at remembering when something happened, the order that events occurred, and I don't remember a lot of things that happen with people in general. If someone asks me how old I was when X happened, I usually have to remember what grade I was in and work out how old I was when I was in that grade. If it happened after hs, I usually have to do it by what apartment I lived in and what job I had, but that can be a big gap and sometimes I can't remember.

I can usually remember all that sort of stuff in books though or in movies.

My short term memory is great. I used to cram the night before tests (ie read all assignments that I should have been doing long before that or work all problem sets and such), even in college and I'd always do well.

I have a great memory for random, and generally useless, facts and figures, details, receipe ingredients, lyrics, page numbers, especially if the topic intrests me.

I also have something that I call "sponge" memory. It was very useful in loonieversity. I'm clearly auditive and if I string facts, definitions, theorems, etc together and learn them in a particular order, I can remember just about anything I want. Each fact is the key to remembering the next one ... just like lyrics in a song on the order in which tracks are on my MP3 player. I call it sponge because it only works for a while ... I just suck everything up in my brain before an exam, spew it out in the exam and then it's gone or at least most of it.

kookiemaster wrote: I just suck everything up in my brain before an exam, spew it out in the exam and then it's gone or at least most of it.

The same thing always happens to me, only it doesn't dissapear as if I never learned it, it only eludes my memory until I encounter the topic again.

aries wrote:I was speaking with a physician today during an appointment and I brought up the topic of my mental health and particularly memory. During the discussion I mentioned something that I haven't really considered a problem or hugely abnormal trait for a long time - I remember the inside of every house and building that I have ever been inside, almost every road I have driven on, and most places I have ever been. Since about age 5. It works especially good with houses, and as for roads I mean the layout and directions, not always the surroundings, though I do have a fantastic memory for that too.

I haven't really heard of a topological memory but come to think of it, besides that... my memory works great on words and new languages, but not at ALL for people, faces and events. I don't really remember events or people whatsoever.

Anyone else have a memory like this? Maybe not and maybe it has nothing to do with SPD

I've always been really good with the directions from the visual aspect. I can pretty much close my eyes and (from a superman-eske view) see how I can get from point A to point B. This works great when I am the only one who needs to follow the directions. However, saying "turn off the 8th exit from your house, then turn right at the 6th stop light" etc. doesn't seem to help most people. Street or freeway names are only relevant the first time i visit the place. This kind of "visual thinking" seems to pretty much describe the way I absorb information in general. The hard part is turning what I see in my head in to something someone else will understand.

kookiemaster wrote:I also have something that I call "sponge" memory. It was very useful in loonieversity. I'm clearly auditive and if I string facts, definitions, theorems, etc together and learn them in a particular order, I can remember just about anything I want. Each fact is the key to remembering the next one ... just like lyrics in a song on the order in which tracks are on my MP3 player. I call it sponge because it only works for a while ... I just suck everything up in my brain before an exam, spew it out in the exam and then it's gone or at least most of it.

I tend to do the same thing when it comes to tests that require rote memorization. I will create a set of flash cards and go over them several times until I build a map of the connections in my head. Works great for classes that are geared toward it. But, as you said after the exam is over the info is pretty much gone except for the tidbits that I found particularly interesting.