# Is having a good memory the same as being intelligent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2013, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299 "2013-05-14T06:33:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_York](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_York)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/1 "2013-05-14T06:33:17Z")
I ask because people who remember things find it easier to pass exams and have a lot of facts in their head that gives them the air of intelligence. Is that all it needs to be a Doctor or Lawyer, a good memory to get you through collage? ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/2 "2013-05-14T06:36:28Z")
I believe that intelligence has to do with the USE of those memories, not just the ability to know and recall them effectively. But, I might be misremembering something here. ---
**Author:** ![sidecar\_jon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sidecar\_jon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidecar_jon)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/3 "2013-05-14T06:42:07Z")
being “a Doctor or Lawyer,” is nothing to do with intelligence at all either. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/4 "2013-05-14T06:44:56Z")
In my opinion someone with intelligence is able to arrive at new information based on known information. Someone with a good memory but poor intelligence will be able to recall known information but not be able to use it to obtain new information. As an example, an intelligent person may have forgotten the answer to an exam question but be able to regain the knowledge from more fundamental information. The person who has just a good memory is lost if they forget the answer to the same question. Also someone who doesn’t understand a subject but has merely memorized a set of information may not be able to check their work for errors based on reasonableness. Consider someone who has committed the answer to 3000 x 3000 to memory. If they forget the answer, or misremember the answer as 900,000 instead of 9,000,000, they are unlikely to realize their mistake. Someone who understands the principles of multiplication is much more likely to pick up the error. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_York](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_York)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/5 "2013-05-14T07:09:15Z")
> [@sidecar\_jon](#): > > being “a Doctor or Lawyer,” is nothing to do with intelligence at all either. So are you saying it may be a case of having a good memory? Surely you’re not saying Doctors are dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/6 "2013-05-14T07:22:49Z")
Certainly it can be an indicator of intelligence, but I’d say it’s not a sufficient condition. It **may** be a necessary condition – after all, I think somebody with anterograde amnesia would find it rather difficult to operate in a manner that’s clearly intelligent. So at least **some** degree of memory recall is important. However, how much is needed depends on the person. For instance, if you have a **good enough** memory, you can compensate by remembering just the important base facts and the rules to combine them – as well as making sure to remember **just enough** about a subject to know when you need to look it up (and how to effectively search for it). Though certainly some professions are going to require a better memory than others, especially the less abstract they get. Doctors and Lawyers, for instance, need to be able to memorize laws or anatomy – not **necessarily** to an encyclopaedic level – but I’d argue to at least a **more** encyclopaedic level than somebody researching how to reduce your OS’s memory footprint. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/7 "2013-05-14T10:57:59Z")
Speaking as a PhD candidate, one requirement to become a doctor, at least in my case, is the patience to do an astounding amount of tedious work. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/8 "2013-05-14T11:03:50Z")
[Wikipedia on fluid and cristallized intelligence.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_and_crystallized_intelligence) ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_York](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_York)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/9 "2013-05-14T11:52:55Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > [Wikipedia on fluid and cristallized intelligence.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_and_crystallized_intelligence) Thanks, fascinating. Still, it’s amazing that no matter how educated a person is, or how intelligent they appear,or how much they achieve, they can still do some really stupid stuff. I.E. Bill Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/10 "2013-05-14T12:40:26Z")
As an extreme case, some savants have amazing recall but otherwise have severe mental challenges. Some people have [extraordinary memory for mundane events](http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2011/11/16/group-with-exceptional-memory-remembers-what-was-for-lunch-20-years-ago/)but are considered no more intelligent than others. So good memory is not the same as being intelligent. Intelligence has to do more with processing than recording. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/11 "2013-05-14T12:43:13Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_York](#): > > Thanks, fascinating. Still, it’s amazing that no matter how educated a person is, or how intelligent they appear,or how much they achieve, they can still do some really stupid stuff. I.E. Bill Clinton. It used to be that you were thought to be intelligent, or not. Today’s models of intelligence are more nuanced and we understand that a man can make good decisions with his big head and bad decisions with his little head. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/12 "2013-05-14T16:34:33Z")
Intelligent people tend to have good memories. Having a good memory isn’t always a sign of intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![jharvey963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/13 "2013-05-14T16:48:40Z")
Conversely, though, as you age, your memory becomes worse. Even if you had high intelligence, developing a poor memory will make you appear (and feel) much less intelligent than you were. J. p.s. yes, personal experience. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/14 "2013-05-14T17:46:11Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > Intelligent people tend to have good memories. Having a good memory isn’t always a sign of intelligence. I agree with this, but as a kid in high school clearly the students with the best memory often did the best on examinations, since most examinations require at least some amount of recall for facts, figures or formulas. Since the students with the highest scores are called ‘smart’ or ‘intelligent’, you can see where there might appear to be a link between memory and intelligence, but true intelligence isn’t just memorizing facts but being able to reason and solve problems that you have never encountered before. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/15 "2013-05-14T18:04:29Z")
It’s definitely a component of intelligence. It’s harder to be intelligent if you have to constantly re-lookup information or if your working memory is limited. Memory is generally overrepresented in many measurements of intelligence. I have a good memory and I’ve always tested very well, often better than people I consider to be smarter and more capable than I am. An interesting side-effect of the increased access to information via the internet is (I expect) going to be the reduction in importance of memory as a component of intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/16 "2013-05-14T18:11:42Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > Intelligent people tend to have good memories. Having a good memory isn’t always a sign of intelligence. This. Memory is a necessary-but-insufficient condition for intelligence. The ability to barf up facts on command indicates good memory; the ability to use relevant, memorized facts to inform one’s course of action in a present situation indicates intelligence. Intelligence, as I understand it, can be expressed in two words: “pattern recognition.” The pattern may be a link between what you’re looking at right now and something you saw ten seconds ago, or maybe something you saw ten years ago - but if you can spot the pattern, you can predict what will/might come next, and/or what you should do next to achieve a desired result. People with only good memory are sometimes called “book-smart;” they do well on formal classroom tests where the problem is explicitly stated and typically has one clear solution, but when it comes time to apply that knowledge in the real world - where the problem to be solved isn’t so explicitly stated, may have multiple viable solutions, and may involve multiple disciplines - they tend to do poorly. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/17 "2013-05-14T18:36:31Z")
Artistic talent is more important than memory or intelligence for someone getting through a collage. ---
**Author:** ![retired-annuitant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@retired-annuitant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/retired-annuitant)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/18 "2013-05-14T18:50:00Z")
Thread winner, Kayaker !! ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/19 "2013-05-14T18:54:19Z")
I call BS. Do you have any idea whatsoever how many people forget the glue? ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299/20 "2013-05-14T18:58:24Z")
Being knowledgeable (having a lot of “intelligence”, in another meaning of that word) contributes greatly to being able to speak and act intelligently, to making intelligent decisions and to understanding novel situations and environments. A person who is ignorant of basic facts about the world will be functionally stupid regardless of their natural genius. People become knowledgeable if they have the opportunity to be exposed to large amounts of information, are intellectually curious, and have a good memory. By “good memory” I mean more than just being able to memorise large numbers of disconnected facts, an ability that is almost useless outside of quiz competitions. The information has to be remembered in a structured way. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-having-a-good-memory-the-same-as-being-intelligent/658299.md?page=2)