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Memory and S vs. N

sonata

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Dec 2, 2008
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291
MBTI Type
iNtJ
So I'd like a few opinions on something.

Lately, I've been realizing that I can't remember my life properly. When I try to think back on things, it's all very spotty. I have an excellent memory for vocabulary words or phone numbers or anything that can be willfully memorized. But conversations with people, how an event happened, even what I was thinking at the time are weirdly not there. Scenes that I do remember, I wonder if they're wrong, as if I'm making things up or filling in blanks with what I think should be there. This is mostly fine, I don't need to remember the details of every conversation I've ever had, but there are certain things I would really like to be able to remember for good.

Is this an example of the fact that as an INTJ, Si is my worst function, or just me being odd/crazy? Do any other Ns feel this way, and if so does it bother you?
 

Orangey

Blah
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6w5
I have exactly the same problem (if you want to call it a problem...I do). And yes, it does bother me, especially lately when I've been trying to type myself based on childhood behavior. I barely remember anything, and what I do remember is fuzzy and vague...mostly impressions of what I felt at the time.
 

raz

Let's make this showy!
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Nov 11, 2008
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LoLz
I was actually just talking about this with luminous beam on vent. I was telling her about how I was going to people's profiles just by renaming usernames in the url's, and she didn't get how I remembered everyone's names. I tried saying to her, "If you talk to the person, you remember their name....don't you?" As she's an INTP, I can understand why she doesn't. It's just something I do so subconsciously. It'd take effort for me to NOT remember a lot of things.
 

nightning

ish red no longer *sad*
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Apr 23, 2007
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Same... I do not remember details... names and dates escapes me, but I'm good at recalling concepts... Sometimes I go, there's this thing I read about that's related to this idea... all I recall is a keyword or two and zero details. Thank goodness google's there to save the day. :wub:
 

Chris_in_Orbit

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504
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ESTJ
I have the opposite problem. I can't remember phone numbers or names but I can remember conversations and past events pretty darn well.
 

BlueScreen

Fail 2.0
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Nov 8, 2008
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2,668
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YMCA
I have really good recall of situations, conversations, and numbers. Would be interested if other ENFPs have the same.
 

Eldanen

Arcesso pulli gingerios!
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Apr 26, 2007
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INTP
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My memory for events seems to be very selective. I might not remember something significant that I need to do, yet I can tell you something you said several months ago with pinpoint accuracy.
 

Lauren Ashley

Revelation
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Hmmm, I don't have this problem at all. I tend to remember things from the past extremely vividly in terms of what happened and how I felt about it. I can recall conversations so well that some people assume I'm adding in details when I retell what happened. Things like what color shirt someone was wearing I'm not so good at it, unless it made an impression. I can remember numbers if they have a certain pattern. Names, words, and random trivia (that I find interesting) I'm also good at. My N is pretty high (first couple of tests were 85+ percent) so I have no idea why this is.
 

Nonsensical

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The thing for me, is that half the time, I have no idea what I'm physically doing, I'll be so wrapped up in my thoughts, I'll loose things, end up in weird places, it's weird. As for my memory, I think it's alright..I tend to remember themes, aspects, how I felt, I remember the 'air' of things..with certain parts of my life..instead of remembering what I was wearring, what time it was, what the weather and date were..classic N vs. S right there.
 

Cimarron

IRL is not real
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I was actually just talking about this with luminous beam on vent. I was telling her about how I was going to people's profiles just by renaming usernames in the url's....
I do it, too. It's easy, after seeing their names on this screen again and again and again.

Sometimes I have memories that I'm not sure are memories...people ask me a question, and it's like that suggestion that they made gets confused for an actual memory. So is it a real memory, or am I remembering something that never happened? I don't know.

But childhood was a long time ago, sometimes I have trouble remembering how it looked through my eyes back then, too. And then there are specific moments that will always be stuck in my head. Some of them are obviously momentous, some are more random.
 

Anja

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Numbers and sheet music are an impossibility for me.

Punch lines for jokes? Forget it. I get lost in the telling. . .

Names? Another fail. But I'll remember interesting things about people's personalities, life stories or body language.

When I was younger I could memorize pages of books easily.

My memory for my childhood is exceptional. I can remember many times of being in my crib. I can remember sitting in a high chair and being diapered. Being in my little Johnny-jump-up seat.

I once drew a floor plan of the house we lived in for my mom to help me check out if my memory was accurate. I told her where we kept the toaster and where individual pieces of furniture were placed, clothing my parents wore and she was astonished. We had moved when I was barely three years old.

My ENFP daughter claims she can't remember anything before she was in third grade. Sometimes this is an indicator of trauma. Good grief. Hope not.
 

Cimarron

IRL is not real
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My memory for my childhood is exceptional. I can remember many times of being in my crib. I can remember sitting in a high chair and being diapered. Being in my little Johnny-jump-up seat.

I once drew a floor plan of the house we lived in for my mom to help me check out if my memory was accurate. I told her where we kept the toaster and where individual pieces of furniture were placed, clothing my parents wore and she was astonished. We had moved when I was barely three years old.
Wow, all that from less than three years old? That's wild. Now that I'm thinking about it, I have very few "mental recordings" of events back that young, or even in kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade starts to have a few more concrete memories... but I'm thinking of the classroom. We didn't learn much in the elementary school classroom.
 

Simplexity

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My older sister, an ISFJ, has insane memory. She can recall almost anything from when she was a little child. It's insane. My mom always tells me this story about how when she was like 2 or 3 she recited a whole conversation my mom had had on the phone with another friend. The next day she recalled it in explicit detail and basically recited my mom saying how shitty her friends birthday cake was, right to the friend in question.

To this day she routinely remembers intricate details about the past. Infallible, tell me how I was like, and how I acted, much better than I can remember. Can't lie about past events with her.
 

cascadeco

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Hmmm, I don't have this problem at all. I tend to remember things from the past extremely vividly in terms of what happened and how I felt about it. I can recall conversations so well that some people assume I'm adding in details when I retell what happened. Things like what color shirt someone was wearing I'm not so good at it, unless it made an impression.

I think I'm similar. I have a pretty good memory of the past, especially when it comes to recalling my feelings and the overall situation - especially interpersonal dynamics. And yes, even conversation. And yeah -- it's fairly easy for me to put myself back in time and 'relive' moments of my past.

I don't have a good memory of details though -- names, numbers, etc. In fact even my short-term memory can be pretty abysmal if I don't make it a point to focus and remember things, like when it comes to names. Can be embarassing at times. And apparently I don't have the best recollection of physical details either, as I remember one incidence in high school where we'd taken a family trip, and a week or two later we were talking about the hotel room and how much we liked it, and for some bizarre reason were getting into the layout of the room, and I remembered it completely incorrectly, apparently, and was quite disturbed that my memory of it was wrong, as the rest of my family was chastising me for remembering it incorrectly. :huh:
 

FDG

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I actually have the opposite problem. I remember most details of every conversation I've had. Sometimes it's daunting, because I always see when a person contradicts himself, or when he decides something that can conflict with another decision he's said he wanted to take. I say that it's daunting because, very often, these contradictions and conflicting decisions are about very minor happenings (say, I prefer tomatoes over carrots, etc).

I also remember in detail faces of people I've only seen once, and what they were wearing too. Again, it can be a bit scary: if I get to know somebody that I have already seen before somewhere else, I may ask him "so on the 5th of november, at 12:15 you were at place X wearing Y and Z?".
 

Jack Flak

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type
I actually have the opposite problem. I remember most details of every conversation I've had. Sometimes it's daunting, because I always see when a person contradicts himself, or when he decides something that can conflict with another decision he's said he wanted to take. I say that it's daunting because, very often, these contradictions and conflicting decisions are about very minor happenings (say, I prefer tomatoes over carrots, etc).

I also remember in detail faces of people I've only seen once, and what they were wearing too. Again, it can be a bit scary: if I get to know somebody that I have already seen before somewhere else, I may ask him "so on the 5th of november, at 12:15 you were at place X wearing Y and Z?".
I wouldn't be caught dead at place X without at least Q on.
 

LucrativeSid

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Oct 20, 2007
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I have a really good memory. Usually if I don't remember something it's just because I was never paying attention in the first place.
 

CrystalViolet

lab rat extraordinaire
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I have a very good memory for conversations, anything emotionally charged. I remember people's faces, better than I remember their name (this is kinda embarrassing though!)
If I'm interested, I can tell you what page number, an interesting little fact was found, if I liked the book. I can't do phone numbers.
When I was a lot younger, I used come out with random facts during conversations, almost like they were leaking out of my head. I earned the nic names "Magazine memoriser" and "Pet dictionary" for that.
I have a terrible memory for meetings and appointments, oh and paying bills on time unfortunately. I also have a very good memory for music jingles, and useless celebrity trivia (to the point I don't even know how I picked it up in the first place, I don't watch T.V.)
 

EcK

The Memes Justify the End
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I dont remember anything, i'm like a man without a past.
 

CrystalViolet

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That's kinda cool, in a lonely sort of way.
 
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