Long term memory - WTF

[madbean]

First off, this is not about bragging because it frigging annoys me to no end (it's a bug, not a feature). My long term memory is kind of terrible. People tell me all the time about things I've said, or done, or events that I participated in and I honestly have no idea what they are talking about. It's like there's a blank space in my brain that I can't access no matter how hard I try. Sometimes it's rather embarrassing because it involves personal relationships and it is definitely not on purpose.

And yet, I can remember in detail a game level I played for like 20 minutes 10 years ago or the phone number for an old friend I haven't used in 20 years. Is this just normal aging? Surely everyone else has this problem, right? Maybe it's time for a DIY neurological scanner.

[gordo]

Same here.  I can't remember what I had for breakfast but can recall that the pins on an rj45 jack are covered in 50 microns of gold.

[Ekimneets]

Brian I can tell you are on good authority that you are unfortunately normal.

-Mike


Typo'd from my iphone

[matmosphere]

A video game you played for twenty minutes ten years ago is a very specific memory. Things like that are easier to remember than stuff that happens every day. Memories of people you see every day run together more, so specific things aren't as easy to remember unless its tied to something out of the ordinary.

There's probably games you played back then that you've completely forgotten about.

[EBK]

Surely everyone else has this problem, right?

I can assure you that I have the exact same problem. 

[vizcities]

I've actually destroyed relationships due to this problem My theory has always been that I'm a reading/writing/doing sort of learner, not a hearing/social type, so unless I bring an almost academic focus to bear on what a person is saying to me, I'm just not equipped to easily retain it. (I'm bad with faces, too. It's a problem.)

[jimilee]

Your story sounds far too familiar my friend. I've heard lots of stories, cool ones about myself that I wish I could remember cause it sounds like I had a good time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[midwayfair]

I was having this exactly conversation the other night. My friend forgot lyrics to basically all his songs all night. At the end, he was saying, "I do this literally every day and still forget words, but I can quote stats for a bunch of Warhammer stuff from 15-20 years ago."

[juansolo]

I think this is how brains works. As you get older, the short term memory goes first as your brain cells start failing. Having the quite unpleasant experience of watching someone suffer from dementia first hand over a period of 6 years, you watch as recent stuff no longer sinks in at all, literally short term memory can go in a matter of minutes. But as it gets worse the more they forget, eventually regressing to a child like state, because those are the memories that are most real and are still hanging around.

My memory is fucked (I have no doubt it's hereditary). I'd be completely screwed without a calendar app that reminds me what I'm doing on a morning. Only this week, I'd forgotten that I'd arranged to be somewhere last night only 3 days earlier. Thankfully my friends know to remind me, and though it's a bit of a joke among them, they do know if they don't I'll forget. My memory for people/faces is even worse, but I'm really good a blagging when it comes to people running into me who I'm supposed to know.

It's also why when it comes to pedal building I have an extensive stash of knowledge and I note a lot of stuff on the website. Because not long after building something, I'll forget most things about it. People ask which trannies I used, and I always have to ask Cleggy, because I just don't know.

...and yet, lyrics to music I listened to as a child, all in there. The maze in Atari's Adventure... I picked up a 2600 last year, hadn't played adventure for probably 35 years, breezed through it. I have odd retention when it comes to some technical things, where I can remember the minutia of it. This is the bit I can't explain, because other things just vanish.

I was a AIX technical specialist when I resigned 6 or so years ago. People ask why I don't get back into it and honestly it's because I don't fucking remember about 90% of it. I've had dreams/nightmares about getting a job and just sitting there blank, because it's just not there anymore. Losing my memory scares the shit out of me.

[EBK]

The maze in Atari's Adventure... I picked up a 2600 last year, hadn't played adventure for probably 35 years, breezed through it.

https://youtu.be/rNK44eqvP38

(Not sure why I can't embed this vid.)

[m-Kresol]

After about 24 years, I can still tell you exactly where the secret passages and goodies are hidden in the first few levels of Donkey Kong Country on SNES. No idea, but I have a certain part of my brain reserved for useless memory. I really tend to remember really weird stuff.

[EBK]

I still remember all the Doom cheat codes and, of course, the Contra cheat code.

Can't remember what I ate for breakfast yesterday.

[ChRa]

First off, this is not about bragging because it frigging annoys me to no end (it's a bug, not a feature). My long term memory is kind of terrible. People tell me all the time about things I've said, or done, or events that I participated in and I honestly have no idea what they are talking about. It's like there's a blank space in my brain that I can't access no matter how hard I try. Sometimes it's rather embarrassing because it involves personal relationships and it is definitely not on purpose.

And yet, I can remember in detail a game level I played for like 20 minutes 10 years ago or the phone number for an old friend I haven't used in 20 years. Is this just normal aging? Surely everyone else has this problem, right? Maybe it's time for a DIY neurological scanner.

@madbean I am a neuroscientist who studies human memory...that's my day job anyway  What you're talking about sounds pretty normal. People generally forget most stuff that happened a long time ago, but you're much more aware of all the stuff you forgot from the last week because people remind you of it. In fact people forget most of the details of stuff that happens in a day. I am absolutely terrible at remembering faces, names, and most anything that involves people, but I am much better with things that involve bands, guitars, or other random stuff. Some of that probably boils down to dopamine, but that's a deep rabbit hole.

Anyway, if you are forgetting that you had a conversation a few hours ago--not just what was said, but the fact that you had a conversation--then I'd be concerned. Or if you find yourself getting lost very easily. Or if your close friends and family are concerned. Or finally, if you are having other problems like headaches, sleep apnea or insomnia, depression, etc.

Otherwise, I'd be more inclined to file that in the "getting old sucks" bin, which I am all too familiar with!

In case you are interested, here is a recent interview I did on why we forget names: http://time.com/5348486/why-do-you-forget-names/

[alanp]

At work, we have a revolving door for new people, pretty much. I don't bother remembering names until they've stuck around for six months or so. (Our department has a core of people who have been there for years, and a constant flux of newbies to make up numbers. Occasionally, a newbie graduates to staying in the department.)

[ahiddentableau]

Sometimes with these things it's not necessarily memory at all.  I thought my memory for people's faces was terrible, but it turned out that I very likely have prosopagnosia or "face blindness"--the inability to recognize faces.  I got to take the test for it at my university and failed it.  Epically.  I was crusing through the questions completely sure that I was answering everything correctly, but in the end I scored...zero.  Even blind guessing should have gotten me 1 or 2.

It actually made me feel better about not being able to remember names.  Because it's likely not the name I'm forgetting--since I can't recognize the person's face to begin with, there's no starting point for my memory to begin with.