[qwerty]

After going over a few posts a few things hit me about memory and INTJ's. Phoenix bought something about remembering conversations something that seems natural to me and it always blindsides me when I'm talking to someone and mention something they said last week that they can't remember.

Now that is the interesting question. Is it natural for you to remember events and other things in great detail or have you ever had people come to you and ask you to remember to remind you of things?

For me it's not photographic - I can't look at a page of text and recite it but I will remember more than most and I have a habit of just picking up random details of anything and memorizing it without realizing it until someone brings it up months later.

Is this why INTJ's are so future oriented? Because they recall so much more than others or is it completely barking down the wrong tree?

[Jezebel]

I'm actually really terrible at remembering conversations. Partially because I go on autopilot with people so much when they're talking, so unless it's something I'm very interested in I often don't absorb it or remember it well.

My short term memory for remembering facts is okay, but I don't retain the details very well. I often need to go back and double check what I remember if I need to talk to someone about factual information. I do have a good general memory though. I remember a lot of stuff from when I was a very young child.

[INTJohn]

When I was in my teens and 20's, I had a photgraphic memory.........

...........but today, the pictures aren't quite as sharp.

INTJohn

[Ian]

So your photographic memory is under-developed, then?
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[phoenix]

My memory is exceptional, and is what allows me to do my job. Systems engineering involves knowing lots of information about many different parts of a machine (in my case satellite), its user interface, and the end user process and then discerning where problems may occur. There's no way to have all the bits and pieces written down. Many of them exist in software manuals, databases, operating instructions, etc....but most of the information I use is gleaned from hallway conversations with other engineers.

I take the tidbits of knowledge I have stored in my brain and (hopefully) at some point get the typically INTJ 'Eureka' moment that means I have identified a likely problem area. People have learned that when they see me coming it means something needs to be fixed.

[rwyatt365]

Generally, for non-personal things I retain a great deal of information. Bits and pieces of data about a vast array of things, some useful, some not. As with phoenix, my job requires me to be able to know, understand and correlate that information on-demand.

It's another thing when it comes to "people things". I'm terrible with remembering names, if I don't write it down I will forget names. I also can't remember specific details of conversations. I can remember the concept, or tone of the conversation but if asked to recite verbatim…NFW.

[Rei]

Something else that came up... Do bad memories stick out more in your mind or do good memories?

Generally, I think because of my perfectionism, I tend to remember all the bad stuff. I play it over and over, and think about all the different ways it could have been done better/happened differently.

[Evalind]

My memory is pitiful. If I did not feel some kind of emotion during an event, I'm likely to forget it. If an event was overwhelming beyond the emotions I felt, I'm likely to forget it. I also have the terrible habit of trying to forget times when I experienced uncomfortable emotions, thus I don't remember much at all without a good deal of prodding.

[jeffersonian]

	Originally Posted by Rei
	Something else that came up... Do bad memories stick out more in your mind or do good memories? Generally, I think because of my perfectionism, I tend to remember all the bad stuff. *I play it over and over, and think about all the different ways it could have been done better/happened differently.

Oh, totally. When I'm evaluating myself, I tend to dig up all sorts of old material that reflects badly on me.

In typical INTJ fashion, I typed in an example but then felt too personally revealed, so I deleted it. *:P

[TeleportThis]

I can remember conversations verbatim. I can remember lectures almost verbatim (I tend to space off from time to time). When reading, I remember where in the book a certain thing is and what part of the page it is on, but I do not have a photographic memory. I am convinced that this is because I needed glasses long before I got them. I couldn't see the board in school for about two years and had to learn everything by listening.

But when noticing things like what people are wearing, whether or not they have glasses, or the color of their hair, I probably won't remember.

[Guido]

I'm very good at remembering what I thought the other person meant to say as well as things that have occurred in the past. Not so much the actual words used unless there was something special about them. I generally remember things by taking a 'perfect' item or event as the base, and then remembering the details which essentially take away from that perfection. I also have a funny repertoire of little memory tools that I use :o

All in all, my memory is great when I try and remember something, but only decent for random daily events that don't have much importance.

[orange]

My memory is both great and horrible!

If I actually care (not just making people thinkI do), or think that the information may actually be important to me later I can remeber it flawlessly and ramdonly recall that data years later far after the information is of no use to me.

However, I rarely remeber conversations that I have. This is mostly because I do not care about conversations, even with my friends and I enjoy talking with them I usally dont really care about the content of what was said (the time with them is very important though). Unfortionatly that sets me up to hear the same things over and over again (we all know how much us INTJs love that!) because of the old "Have I told you_______" and about 2 sentences into the story I remeber it and by thin it's too late.

The rest of the time I dont even listen to the person talking to me, but I use some sort of working memory in the back of my mind that lests me give good meaningful responces and then instantly forget what both myself and the other person said.

[wolf]

Too good. See my diet blog for proof.

[hopscotch]

I remember themes and perceptions but don't have verbatim or photographic recall. If asked at the outset to remember a specific detail, I can. If asked in passing, don't count on me; I've found myself in the grocery store numerous times, unable to recall what I was supposed to purchase. Oddly, I have a great memory for birthdays and ages.

Bad memories are more vivid, probably because I'm a critical person. I focus on flaws and ways to improve things, so it's easier to remember people or events that have annoyed me. I think this is typical of our type, due to our love of logic, efficiency and systems.

[qwerty]

	Originally Posted by Rei
	Something else that came up... Do bad memories stick out more in your mind or do good memories? Generally, I think because of my perfectionism, I tend to remember all the bad stuff. I play it over and over, and think about all the different ways it could have been done better/happened differently.

Generally for me it's a combination. Both are equal but I do neglect the huge things I've done (I saved a guys life when he was being bottled) but that never comes to mind when I'm depressed or trying to motivate myself.

[Jack]

I delivered my daughter when she was born, I'll never forget that. If I had the courage to deliver her with zero experience, remembering that courage helps me, it feels awesome.

[Zeinland]

Mostly, I only remember, what's important to me. Or something that Il need in the future. I don't remember ANYTHING I don in school. Because School isn't important to me... I alredy learned, what I need...

[Max T]

	Originally Posted by Zeinland
	Mostly, I only remember, what's important to me. Or something that Il need in the future. I don't remember ANYTHING I don in school. Because School isn't important to me... I alredy learned, what I need...

Brilliantly put Zeinland- I do exactly as you describe. *
In building our own beliefs/ systems/ theories that are or will be important, much irrelevant data is discarded (after the exam!).

"[INTJs] will adopt ideas only if they are useful, which is to say if they work efficiently toward accomplishing their well-defined goals... Theories which cannot be made to work are quickly discarded."

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


The subsequent impact on my memory is that I'm hopeless at general knowledge quizzes and every day things.
But if data relates to my little clutch of beliefs/ systems/ theories, then it's easily retained in detail and chewed over ("does the data support my belief? does the belief need altering slightly? is there a pattern starting?" etc. etc.).

The typical danger of such selective memory retention- that we risk ignoring important conflicting data- I doubt applies to INTJs. * Because we're seeking what is right, not whether we're right.

[Evalis]

I think the danger still applies.. considering that what we may not have thought to be relevant at one time, could become relevant later. My assumption is that memory has a finite capacity though.. and I can't be bothered trying to remember every tiny detail. Theories and concepts stick around for a while though, and it's fun to backtrack them to their original justification.

Definately though.. I must say you are barking down the wrong tree..

[Max T]

	Originally Posted by Evalis
	My assumption is that memory has a finite capacity though.. and I can't be bothered trying to remember every tiny detail.

Certainly. *I think INTJs appreciate this limitation more than others and so retain only the important stuff (or what they consider important). * Leading to MBTI some other forumasters saying we're good at big picture thinking.

A few useful rules of thumb that support memory's finite capacity:
- 80:20 rule- 20% of input leads to 80% of output.
- Bounded rationality- increasing data (and so retaining more in memory) makes you more confident in your decision, it doesn't necessarily improve decision 'correctness'.
- To make a decision, memory works best with 7(+/-2) chunks of information at a time.

An old boss used to play tricks with staff by "out-remembering" minor details to catch them out. * But he couldn't see that the company was going to hit a rough patch in the next year. :-/

[Ijz]

	Originally Posted by rwyatt365
	It's another thing when it comes to "people things". I'm terrible with remembering names, if I don't write it down I will forget names. I also can't remember specific details of conversations. I can remember the concept, or tone of the conversation but if asked to recite verbatim…NFW.

That's spot on. I only remember concepts, specific facts, emotions and such, but nothing verbatim.

I once read that you only remember that what you observe. Hearing, or seeing something doesn't mean you will remember it. Only if your attention goes out to it, will you actually retain the information. So if you want to remember stuff, just put your attention on it and let your brain do the rest (it works btw).

As for my own memory, its both horrible and excellent. I can remember tons of code, where it is and what is does, instantly. However, I can't even remember in which year/month I had a certain outing with some of my friends.

[thegnat]

Originally Posted by rwyatt365

Generally, for non-personal things I retain a great deal of information. Bits and pieces of data about a vast array of things, some useful, some not. As with phoenix, my job requires me to be able to know, understand and correlate that information on-demand. It's another thing when it comes to "people things". I'm terrible with remembering names, if I don't write it down I will forget names. I also can't remember specific details of conversations. I can remember the concept, or tone of the conversation but if asked to recite verbatim…NFW.

exactly the same here.

Though I did think my memory was slipping yesterday when I couldn't remember past the first 10 digits past the decimal of pi....I don't normally forget or mess up or blank the 8979323 after 3.1415926535... I actually blanked it yesterday! So of course I had to look it up and it all came back... the 846264 i might flip around sometimes but usually pretty good and once i'm there I always nail the 3383...

but I'll generally remember tennis scores from awhile ago - phone numbers that I never call, or never call me anymore...and of course useful numeric stuff but there's a lot of useless stuff in there too.

and obviously my "people stuff" memory just isn't great. I'm horrible with names. Then if I'm not around them too terribly much but I see them, I go "heeey! how are youuu??" really fakely(yes I realize that's probably not a word) and don't mention their name....

[melon]

While I'm terrible at remembering some things, especially things like names and phone numbers, I'm good at remembering others. If I think that a certain fact will be important to remember, I'll usually remember it. I remember most of what I read in my free time, because I obviously think that what I'm reading is important (if I didn't, I wouldn't be wasting my free time reading it). For example, the other day, my parents were talking about somebody with the last name "Bennett." Our family knows another person with that same last name who lives in another state, and my mom was wondering if they were related, to which I casually said, "Probably not; Bennett is the 77th most common last name in the United States." My parents started cracking up and asked me how I knew. I have no idea, but I must have read it somewhere. It's not like I remembered the entire list of the 100 most common surnames, either; I must have recognized the surname "Bennett" and made a mental note of how common it is.

Unfortunately, I can't remember things that I either don't consider important or am not consciously trying to remember. For example, I'm not doing very well in my Spanish class, because I know that I'll rarely, if ever, speak Spanish outside the classroom. I'm not good at remembering phone numbers either, because I rarely call people. If I have to call them, I'll just store the number in my phone and use speed dial.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[BadgerDad]

I have been told I have a good memory. I dont think that's true. What I think is true is that since I can see the "entire tapestry" I can easily see missing or misplaced threads.

[mielikki]

I have ADHD, and consequently my short-term memory skills suck on a major scale.

Except for numbers, that is. If I see your license plate once, I'll never forget it....or your phone number.

That is actually uncomfortably savant-like....