Severely deficient autobiographical memory (SDAM) in healthy adults (2015)(sciencedirect.com)
sciencedirect.com
Severely deficient autobiographical memory (SDAM) in healthy adults (2015)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002839321500158X
59 comments
I probably qualify for HSAM. I'm often reminding people of how we met, or a relevant conversation or interaction, and I can read them back what we talked about, what we ate, what the weather was like, those kinds of details. It's not as complete as a lot of the examples I've seen, where you can name a date and the person can recall everything, but I definitely haven't met anyone with a better memory, on average, than I have - with the possible exception of my mother, which suggests it's to some degree genetic.
I have terrible memory generally but I can recall how I met most of the friends I've made in adulthood, conversations we had etc. the same way you seem to do.
This is a mnemonic device though. The person is the device. I see them (or think about, talk to them, etc) and those memories come back kind of like a stream of things related to them.
This is a mnemonic device though. The person is the device. I see them (or think about, talk to them, etc) and those memories come back kind of like a stream of things related to them.
What you had for dinner probably falls under the “meaningless information.”
The study seems to call out ability to accurately recite one’s life story, vividly recalling subsets of childhood experiences in details, not knowing they had mac n cheez last Tuesday.
I grew up rural and was way less distracted by trendy and/or random people all around energy. I can clearly recite events and back it up with pictures my camera obsessed father took through the 80-90s. My autobiographical awareness seems intact.
Mainstream life then and now comes along with pressure to defer expressing ourselves and serve “higher purpose.” It’s not so shocking people do so and then remember nothing; there’s probably not that much to recall if one’s path was constrained to “set aside personal exploration to serve by getting busy work job, do job all week, sit on couch parasocially recharging through others emotional performances on TV.”
That’s a pretty fractal cognitive existence. That’s why I am not a fan of lifelong “career” culture. Adam Smith wrote years ago extreme division of labor would make humans incurious and stupider than animals; current political trends seem to back up the idea as everyone clings to keeping their tribal bubble intact rather than explore new models.
Don’t smash my cognitive fractal, bro!
The study seems to call out ability to accurately recite one’s life story, vividly recalling subsets of childhood experiences in details, not knowing they had mac n cheez last Tuesday.
I grew up rural and was way less distracted by trendy and/or random people all around energy. I can clearly recite events and back it up with pictures my camera obsessed father took through the 80-90s. My autobiographical awareness seems intact.
Mainstream life then and now comes along with pressure to defer expressing ourselves and serve “higher purpose.” It’s not so shocking people do so and then remember nothing; there’s probably not that much to recall if one’s path was constrained to “set aside personal exploration to serve by getting busy work job, do job all week, sit on couch parasocially recharging through others emotional performances on TV.”
That’s a pretty fractal cognitive existence. That’s why I am not a fan of lifelong “career” culture. Adam Smith wrote years ago extreme division of labor would make humans incurious and stupider than animals; current political trends seem to back up the idea as everyone clings to keeping their tribal bubble intact rather than explore new models.
Don’t smash my cognitive fractal, bro!
Thanks for expressing this. It seems like the share of "meaningless information" significantly increases as I get older. When young, everything is exciting and important. As I get older the patterns are repetitive and even new events are sightly modified renditions of previous events. There doesn't seem as much to store. My only personal exception to the above is having kids, so far this has been a truly new set of experiences, even if exhausting.
My son (not biological) is in the highly superior group. I'm in the severely deficient group.
It's an odd experience having him talk in detail about a fairly normal day 11 years ago when he was two, including what we had for dinner. I can't remember what we had for dinner the day before yesterday.
It's an odd experience having him talk in detail about a fairly normal day 11 years ago when he was two, including what we had for dinner. I can't remember what we had for dinner the day before yesterday.
I'm seeing big gaps in my memory now that I'm almost 60. For example, I had no recall of a vacation to London this past December; I believe I went because I was shown photos and I remember the trip I made right after to Belfast, but if I didn't have the reminder, I wouldn't have known that I went there.
I'm still working every day writing C++/CUDA/VHDL code, so I suppose I'm a healthy adult.
I'm still working every day writing C++/CUDA/VHDL code, so I suppose I'm a healthy adult.
Love Fortran77, by the way. Learned it entirely from the manual that came with the floppy disk back in the day; and it's amazing to me that manuals were that good. There are some modern R packages such as library(randomForest) which are basically Fortran code written in the 70s and "why fix what isn't broken"!
Makes me wonder. If you ever are interrogated by police or in a court room.. "Where were you on the night of 22 January 2020?" and "Can't you also remember that you went to ..?". Now if you were guilty the night may have left quite an impression in memory. Not guilty, and you likely answer to every question "Dunno, your honor", making you look really suspicious in the eyes of onlookers.
I suspect that one of the activities a lawyer does in this case is prepping you to answer these questions. Rather than "dunno" the answer could be "It was an unremarkable night, I ate dinner at home, watched netflix, and went to bed". Odds are the browser history/location history on your phone would provide corroboration for the above if needed.
Along that, you would do your own investigation. Look over texts, emails, calls, credit card charges, and use discovery from the other side like location data, surveillance footage, and etc.
This is ALSO why you don’t ever talk to police. You talk to lawyers. If a cop were to ask you the same “where were you at” question, it’s probably better to not answer at all.
This is ALSO why you don’t ever talk to police. You talk to lawyers. If a cop were to ask you the same “where were you at” question, it’s probably better to not answer at all.
In those cases the assumption is you were made aware of the relevance of that day before, closer to what happened so you could recollect and fix the memories for later questioning.
Otherwise that kind of question is ridiculous.
Otherwise that kind of question is ridiculous.
I came to the conclusion that I compress my experiences and rather than "reading them". I process them to subconsciously extract relevant patterns. If I need to remember what I ate on a certain date, I struggle and basically have to unpack the whole shebang.
There is a whole set of behavioural patterns I exhibit that all seem to tie into this. For example I have no sense for time on the scale of weeks or longer.
On the other hand I seem to remember "narrative background" well. E.g. What someone likes or doesn't like, where they're from etc. I also seem much better than others in remembering whether a topic already came up or not.
In terms of MBTI/Jungian Functions: I seem very much lead Ni.
There is a whole set of behavioural patterns I exhibit that all seem to tie into this. For example I have no sense for time on the scale of weeks or longer.
On the other hand I seem to remember "narrative background" well. E.g. What someone likes or doesn't like, where they're from etc. I also seem much better than others in remembering whether a topic already came up or not.
In terms of MBTI/Jungian Functions: I seem very much lead Ni.
One annoyance: it looks like their p-values weren't adjusted for multiple comparisons, which seems like a problem given the number of different comparisons they made in e.g. the fMRI results.
If I'm doing my math right: if they applied the Bonferroni or Sidak corrections to the fMRI results, then only one of those comparisons would still be significant.
If I'm doing my math right: if they applied the Bonferroni or Sidak corrections to the fMRI results, then only one of those comparisons would still be significant.
Truth is, our lizard brains are always forgetting the good stuff that happened but remembering every detail of some random shameful event nobody, except you, cares about.
Probably evolutionary: our brains have evolved into hardcoding those memories to avoid getting into that bad situation again.
Or, to put that another way: of what practical use is a memory of being content? It has no informational content to feed to your predictive model of the world.
Memories of unexpectedly getting rewards are quite salient, of course, because those train you to get more rewards.
Memories of unexpectedly getting rewards are quite salient, of course, because those train you to get more rewards.
Honestly I had a really solid memory for the most part until I started doing drugs and drinking. College is a giant blur. I remember many many insignificant events in fine detail but putting together a timezone of events I impossible. E.g. which classes and when. Etc
Now that I've layed of the drugs and reduced my alcoholism to socially normal levels my memory is a lot better.
Now that I've layed of the drugs and reduced my alcoholism to socially normal levels my memory is a lot better.
What does "vividly recall" here? I remember different events from my past with differing levels of clarity. For almost none of them do I have a chronological memory of the event, but rather snapshots of bits and pieces, some clear and some not. I'm 47 and this has gotten worse with time. I've only been able to perfectly recall events up into my early 20s. Always thought this was normal.
"Each case reported a lifetime inability to recollect events from a first-person perspective".
"The SDAM cases reported here have a lifetime of practice in compensating for their lack of first-person, autonoetic connection to their own past with non-episodic processes (supported by, for example, rehearsing events and reviewing photographs)"
They tested this by asking participants to recall and describe past events in as much detail as they could, then scored the transcribed recollections based on whether they were internal experiences (things they could sense, emotions they felt, etc) or external ('semantic facts (factual information or extended events that did not require recollection of a specific time and place), autobiographical events tangential or unrelated to the main event, repetitions, or other metacognitive statements (“I can׳t remember”) or editorializing (“It was the best of times”).') They also scored the recollections on how detailed they were.
So, as a somewhat speculative example, presumably somebody with SDAM would be able to tell you that they went to the fairground with two friends, and it was sunny, and it was fun - because they have a photo with those two friends at the fairground in the sun, and one of the friends later told them it was fun. But they couldn't tell you what other bits of the fairground looked like, that it smelled of cotton candy and hot trash, what it felt like to go down the hill on the roller-coaster, how hot and thirsty they got waiting in line.
I have somewhat deficient autobiographical memory - I have zero recollection of a lot of things from my past, and for others I just have a snapshot of them, like a photo with some vague feelings attached. But I'm still capable of experiencing at least some of my memories in first person, so I wouldn't qualify as having SDAM.
"The SDAM cases reported here have a lifetime of practice in compensating for their lack of first-person, autonoetic connection to their own past with non-episodic processes (supported by, for example, rehearsing events and reviewing photographs)"
They tested this by asking participants to recall and describe past events in as much detail as they could, then scored the transcribed recollections based on whether they were internal experiences (things they could sense, emotions they felt, etc) or external ('semantic facts (factual information or extended events that did not require recollection of a specific time and place), autobiographical events tangential or unrelated to the main event, repetitions, or other metacognitive statements (“I can׳t remember”) or editorializing (“It was the best of times”).') They also scored the recollections on how detailed they were.
So, as a somewhat speculative example, presumably somebody with SDAM would be able to tell you that they went to the fairground with two friends, and it was sunny, and it was fun - because they have a photo with those two friends at the fairground in the sun, and one of the friends later told them it was fun. But they couldn't tell you what other bits of the fairground looked like, that it smelled of cotton candy and hot trash, what it felt like to go down the hill on the roller-coaster, how hot and thirsty they got waiting in line.
I have somewhat deficient autobiographical memory - I have zero recollection of a lot of things from my past, and for others I just have a snapshot of them, like a photo with some vague feelings attached. But I'm still capable of experiencing at least some of my memories in first person, so I wouldn't qualify as having SDAM.
I feel like I have this. Can’t remember anything from the past, but my spouse remembers exactly every tiny detail from years ago.
I'm in the same boat.
I can remember old Win32 C APIs and details like DDX that I haven't used in 20 years, but I frequently make gaffes with my wife, not remembering things that are important to her.
I can remember the paper, pages and formatting of old Sam's and Wrox technical manuals, I can visually recall the exact shade of blue of the old DOS Borland C compiler, and the look and feeling of the pages in favorite books I read as a teenager.
But my wedding is just a series of fragmented images all mixed up with outher things.
I remember the night my wife and I met only in "narrative form".
She, on the other hand, can remember events like that in crystal detail, she can describe everyone that was there, what they were wearing, etc...
I read this study with a sense of comfort, nice to know it's not just me.
Based on some of the comments here, I think it would be interesting to see if this sort of thing is a trend with different sexes.
I can remember old Win32 C APIs and details like DDX that I haven't used in 20 years, but I frequently make gaffes with my wife, not remembering things that are important to her.
I can remember the paper, pages and formatting of old Sam's and Wrox technical manuals, I can visually recall the exact shade of blue of the old DOS Borland C compiler, and the look and feeling of the pages in favorite books I read as a teenager.
But my wedding is just a series of fragmented images all mixed up with outher things.
I remember the night my wife and I met only in "narrative form".
She, on the other hand, can remember events like that in crystal detail, she can describe everyone that was there, what they were wearing, etc...
I read this study with a sense of comfort, nice to know it's not just me.
Based on some of the comments here, I think it would be interesting to see if this sort of thing is a trend with different sexes.
my spouse remembers exactly every tiny detail from years ago
“Cause you don’t care!”
“Cause you don’t care!”
Are you able to form mental images in your head? I'm wondering if people who can't have more trouble with such things.
Not GP, but I experience the same thing. Wife remembers everything, I only remember extremely significant events, and not that much about the fine details.
My capability for creating visual scenes is great, I really enjoy books because of the vivid scenes they paint in my mind.
My visual memory of events is often literally fuzzy and in the third person(out of body, spectating myself in the scene).
My capability for creating visual scenes is great, I really enjoy books because of the vivid scenes they paint in my mind.
My visual memory of events is often literally fuzzy and in the third person(out of body, spectating myself in the scene).
There is a study here which looks at that: https://t.co/xYJvPJRUCj (
"Memories with a blind mind: Remembering the past and imagining the future with aphantasia").
I assume I have aphantasia, and I have bad episodic memory -- so to me linking the two makes sense. However, I don't remember (hah!) if the study linked above was able to establish that link as well.
I assume I have aphantasia, and I have bad episodic memory -- so to me linking the two makes sense. However, I don't remember (hah!) if the study linked above was able to establish that link as well.
I have a very vivid imagination (and utilize it professionally), but my time/date/name recollection is quite poor. I also score quite high on imagistic/spatial thinking, fwiw.
I believe that deficiencies in Episodic Memory can be related to Aphantasia.
My hypothesis is that when people with high mental image visualization recall an event, they are re-experiencing it in a sense, and therefore reinforcing its details (or details as remembered, at least!). A person with aphantasia recalling that event does not re-experience it in a way that triggers this feedback loop, not as efficiently or completely at least.
I have very detailed memory about facts, places that I've been and seen, including spatial models; but how many times I've visited a place, who I was with on which trip, which events occurred on which visit, these details quickly become obscured and lost.
My hypothesis is that when people with high mental image visualization recall an event, they are re-experiencing it in a sense, and therefore reinforcing its details (or details as remembered, at least!). A person with aphantasia recalling that event does not re-experience it in a way that triggers this feedback loop, not as efficiently or completely at least.
I have very detailed memory about facts, places that I've been and seen, including spatial models; but how many times I've visited a place, who I was with on which trip, which events occurred on which visit, these details quickly become obscured and lost.
From personal experience, I don’t think aphantasia and lack of episodic memory are related. I have a poor memory for personal experiences as far as what was said or how I felt and often don’t remember things from a first person view but I have very strong visual mental imagery and spatial reasoning. This results in most of my memories of experiences being 3rd person or “fly through” where I can clearly picture the environment I was in, the people who were there, and myself but seen from other perspectives as if observing a scene. I realize that my memory of all the details isn’t perfect and that they are largely filled in by my prior knowledge or even imagination but it is still accurate enough for the important things. It’s not very useful though and I often wish I could remember what people say or even what I said.
If you have "very strong visual mental imagery", then by definition you have no personal experience with aphantasia.
Yeah I was saying I didn’t but I also don’t have good episodic memory so my point was that they aren’t directly connected at least for me.
As a counterexample: I have good mental image capabilities, but have a terrible episodic memory.
I am aphantasic, and have virtually zero memory of my past beyond a few fragments here and there.
I’ve often wondered if the two are connected.
I’ve often wondered if the two are connected.
To offer a counterexample, I have aphantasia, but have very detailed memories of my childhood. I have no problem recalling details like the full names of all my elementary school teachers, when I met most of my friends in school, and details about field trips we took.
That being said, I only have visual aphantasia, so it may be that remembering these peoples' voices or what places smelled and sounded like may be helping those memories.
I dated someone without aphantasia who was amazed at my childhood recall compared to her own. It turned out she later discovered she had SDAM.
That being said, I only have visual aphantasia, so it may be that remembering these peoples' voices or what places smelled and sounded like may be helping those memories.
I dated someone without aphantasia who was amazed at my childhood recall compared to her own. It turned out she later discovered she had SDAM.
Same here. She remembers all this stuff over decades. I can barely remember last week. Sometimes I wonder if there's something up with my brain.
Yes, I am actually pretty good at other brain stuff. Software and design and such. Good at concentration.
And there's that "absent minded professor" archetype to consider.
On the third hand, working outside in this heat can bake the brains right out of your head.
Yes, I am actually pretty good at other brain stuff. Software and design and such. Good at concentration.
And there's that "absent minded professor" archetype to consider.
On the third hand, working outside in this heat can bake the brains right out of your head.
Personally, I’ve noticed I’ll cycle between something like this (absent minded professor) and very aware with a good memory of events, times, and sequences. For me, it’s largely based on type of mental load, anxiety, and degree of rest and exercise.
Low stress, mental load low and mostly oriented towards people, and good diet and exercise and I’ll be able to remember almost every moment and recall and integrate it into a coherent narrative quite easily.
Mental load high and focused on abstract deep concepts? Higher anxiety? Less exercise and not as good nutrition?
Where am I, and who are you?
Low stress, mental load low and mostly oriented towards people, and good diet and exercise and I’ll be able to remember almost every moment and recall and integrate it into a coherent narrative quite easily.
Mental load high and focused on abstract deep concepts? Higher anxiety? Less exercise and not as good nutrition?
Where am I, and who are you?
> Sometimes I wonder if there's something up with my brain.
Yea it's called being a man. Biologically speaking men statistically have far fewer connections between the two halves of their brain. Your wife basically has a gigabit link between her two halves while you're on 56k, which contributes to the intensity of her integrated story-telling experience. On one hand this often gives women better recall, but it also generally enables men to ignore intense experiences better (i.e. easier to block out the cross-chatter) and soldier forward.
> Yes, I am actually pretty good at other brain stuff.
The results establish that male brains are optimized for intrahemispheric and female brains for interhemispheric communication. -- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3896179/
Yea it's called being a man. Biologically speaking men statistically have far fewer connections between the two halves of their brain. Your wife basically has a gigabit link between her two halves while you're on 56k, which contributes to the intensity of her integrated story-telling experience. On one hand this often gives women better recall, but it also generally enables men to ignore intense experiences better (i.e. easier to block out the cross-chatter) and soldier forward.
> Yes, I am actually pretty good at other brain stuff.
The results establish that male brains are optimized for intrahemispheric and female brains for interhemispheric communication. -- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3896179/
Basically the same, maybe with a twist, I feel that my brain is optimizing my memory for my current "activities". I can recollect anything related to my current jobs, up to 15years ago might be still recallable, but anything else will be just bribe of information.
And no need to ask me the name of my best friends/girl friends etc during my teenagehood -earlier, just blank.
And no need to ask me the name of my best friends/girl friends etc during my teenagehood -earlier, just blank.
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This may be related to how much you have communicated with others about your experiences and events vs. how much your wife has. And not only communication, but how much time spent with inner reflection about recent events. This should play an important role in solidifying memories and making them persistent.
Can they study the type where you only remember the most embarrassing and negative things?
I've had a lot of positive experiences but I have no vivid recollection of anything except the few dozen most negative experiences of my life.
I've had a lot of positive experiences but I have no vivid recollection of anything except the few dozen most negative experiences of my life.
I have vivid memories of places I’ve been and things I’ve done, but I have absolutely no idea when any of those events occurred. I don’t remember what order I lived in what house, although I could draw you a picture of each of them. Same with my job history, I keep it written down in case I have to fill it out on a job app, and if I lost that piece of paper, I wouldn’t be able to tell you when I had any past job more accurately than +\- 5 years. I don’t know when my car’s registration is due - I remember registering it lots of times, but other than visual cues (I remember it being sunny so it was between may and August) I have no idea which memory is the most recent or when that was.
I don’t remember appointments or due dates; I tend to just work on a project till it’s done. I start at the beginning, keep going till I get to the end, then, stop. People ask me for time estimates on how long programming tasks will take and honestly it’s kind of hilarious that they expect any kind of accurate answer considering that without writing down the dates I worked on it I wouldn’t have any idea if my estimate was accurate even after doing the work. So what basis do I have to even guess?
But I remember the wind in my hair and the color of the sea from when I sailed a boat on the ocean by myself once decades ago. I just sort of live in an endless perpetual now with no distinct future or past.
I don’t know where that puts me in this spectrum.
I don’t remember appointments or due dates; I tend to just work on a project till it’s done. I start at the beginning, keep going till I get to the end, then, stop. People ask me for time estimates on how long programming tasks will take and honestly it’s kind of hilarious that they expect any kind of accurate answer considering that without writing down the dates I worked on it I wouldn’t have any idea if my estimate was accurate even after doing the work. So what basis do I have to even guess?
But I remember the wind in my hair and the color of the sea from when I sailed a boat on the ocean by myself once decades ago. I just sort of live in an endless perpetual now with no distinct future or past.
I don’t know where that puts me in this spectrum.
While I have many memories from my childhood, there's a hard limit around 7 years old. Just like the very early universe is hidden behind an opaque plasma to electromagnetic radiation for observing, I can't, and have never (including at my childhood ages like 8-9) remembered anything before 7 years old.
It's just not there. Many people around me have no trouble remembering like their 3 years old, don't know if it counts.
It's just not there. Many people around me have no trouble remembering like their 3 years old, don't know if it counts.
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Ok, this is me. My experiences start to merge with those of others, I cannot be 100% certain that something I am remembering now really happened or if it happened to someone else who shared it with me.
There are certain elements I cannot remember from say 10 years ago or 5. I forgot the names of some of my classmates, I sometimes forget words I shouldn't. My memory is a mess.
There are certain elements I cannot remember from say 10 years ago or 5. I forgot the names of some of my classmates, I sometimes forget words I shouldn't. My memory is a mess.
I have memories from my early childhood that I will not share with others because the only logical conclusion they could draw is that I am full of shit. My youngest daughter appears to be the same and I caution her about how it looks to others. The weird part is that my memory is at best normal in all other regards.
Can you explain without telling the memory? So you mean like age 1-2-3 year old memories? I’ve got a few of those that seem unrelated to family pictures or stories told on later dates. My dad had a few very early memories and one of my children has for sure. He once vividly described the car we had until he was less than 1 year old. I wouldn’t discount the pre 6 year old memory, although I’ve read and noticed that at that age a large filter follows.
Are they backed up by any evidence or related memories from others?
Sometimes some folks have near photographic memories of things others don’t, other times they believe they do and their brain has filled in the gaps with what feels like extremely vivid detail - but when cross checked against evidence or others, it becomes clear those memories could not possibly be true.
Sometimes some folks have near photographic memories of things others don’t, other times they believe they do and their brain has filled in the gaps with what feels like extremely vivid detail - but when cross checked against evidence or others, it becomes clear those memories could not possibly be true.
I can remember a lot of things from my childhood but there are things I simply have no recollection of from a time when I should have been old enough to remember them. Things that my younger sister remembers but I do not. This was rather distressing but I am happy to see I am not alone.
Maybe it's an attention thing.
Attention is like a flashlight in a dark room full of furniture. One of those focusable flaslights that you can twist from spot to flood.
When the flashlight is spot you illuminate that chair brightly. Every detail in high contrast. But you don't see the couch or the coffeetable.
When the flashlight is flood you see everything in the room, but dimly.
Longterm memory is like the coffeetable. If you're focussed on the couch then you aren't gonna see the coffeetable.
Women seem to prefer the flood. Men the spot.
Attention is like a flashlight in a dark room full of furniture. One of those focusable flaslights that you can twist from spot to flood.
When the flashlight is spot you illuminate that chair brightly. Every detail in high contrast. But you don't see the couch or the coffeetable.
When the flashlight is flood you see everything in the room, but dimly.
Longterm memory is like the coffeetable. If you're focussed on the couch then you aren't gonna see the coffeetable.
Women seem to prefer the flood. Men the spot.
It may have to do with rehearsal of memories. Some people go over and over their past, recount it often in stories told to others, discuss it with people who were there at the time. Others don't dwell on the past, don't often review it, and focus on now. It may require some repetition to engrain memories long term and keep them fresh. Although other research suggests that every revisit of a memory alters it somewhat, is a rethinking of it, and the rethinking is remembered instead of the original. Eyewitness testimony in court is notoriously unreliable. Everyone has their own contexts and remembers events in light of those contexts, rather than what actually happened. One person remembers it was a fun party, another that it was a dreadful party.
I dunno, I have excellent autobiographical memory with the exception I can't tie the events to specific times, I just know how/what happened. Like I can tell someone it happened and if I have a log of it digitally I know exactly where to search, like minute conversations from 15 years ago.
I'm a man who's also ambidextrous and ADHD'd. I don't file, I collect and search.
I'm a man who's also ambidextrous and ADHD'd. I don't file, I collect and search.
When I'm up against a person with a great long-term episodic memory I feel like they're gaslighting me. I can't remember yesterday.
However I don't think I'm like these people. I don't take notes or review photos. I just accept that I'm going to make people unhappy that I don't remember events and people very well.
However I don't think I'm like these people. I don't take notes or review photos. I just accept that I'm going to make people unhappy that I don't remember events and people very well.
Sort of related, just curious: Does anyone else mostly remember things from a third-person perspective? When I recall past events the mental images are almost always from outside myself. Thought I read somewhere that this is common but I can't remember where (har har).
No, but I can visualize it that way. When recalling spaces and events I can usually replay it as I saw it (first person)
I assumed 3rd person visualization after the fact is reinterpreting the original memory and more subject to corruption/influence.
I assumed 3rd person visualization after the fact is reinterpreting the original memory and more subject to corruption/influence.
I've lost this ability after a traumatic brain injury (TBI).
If this “deficiency” is a new discovery, how was “normal” defined in the first place?
By everyone assuming that other people were like them.
Aphantasia, inner monologues, episodic memory - people have started discussing their internal thought and capabilities and we are discovering we are more different than we thought.
Aphantasia, inner monologues, episodic memory - people have started discussing their internal thought and capabilities and we are discovering we are more different than we thought.
Not to be confused with: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Atomic_Demolition_Muni...
> For example, when given randomly selected dates or event cues from their past, HSAM individuals can effortlessly recall many details of what happened, even if trivial (e.g., what they had for dinner) without the use of mnemonic aids. They are neither savants nor calendar counters (although they possess extensive calendar knowledge from their own lifespan) and they are distinct from other types of superior memorizers who possess vast learning and retention of meaningless information
This is the opposite group from the study, that is the group that has superior autobiographic memory. I find this incredible because I’d have to work hard to remember what I had for dinner 3 days. I’d normally do it by unspooling my memory to identify what the day was about to try to find some context. This only works up to a couple of days. Maybe a week. But there’s no way I’ll remember anything from 2 weeks or more in the past. Anyway, I thought this was amazing.