# Rate your memory! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 22, 2011, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211 "2011-02-22T10:38:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/1 "2011-02-22T10:38:58Z")
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being photographic memory and 1 being senile, what would you rate your memory? Compared to the people around me, I would rate myself a 9. I seem to remember things that happened 3-5 years ago with great accuracy. On the flip side, people around me can barely remember what happened 3-6 months ago. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/2 "2011-02-22T16:02:35Z")
I would say a 9 as well. I can remember in vivid detail the house I lived in from birth to age 3. And have never been back in it nor are there many photos taken in the house. While I don’t have a photographic memory in the sense that some people do, It’s pretty close. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/3 "2011-02-22T16:27:05Z")
I’m like a 2 for dates, names and personal history. I forget things almost everyone seems to remember, for example: the where/when/who of my first kiss. No idea. Or where/when I first met my husband. I have a vague idea, but I couldn’t pin it down. Etc. However I have a strong visual/spatial memory, and can specifically recall the layouts of places. For example, I easily found the bathroom in the Venice, Italy train station from memory, after having been there once on a layover, 7 years previously. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/4 "2011-02-22T16:51:21Z")
I used to have an astounding memory. Either age or illness or both have degraded it such that I now don’t trust it’s accuracy. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/5 "2011-02-22T16:55:17Z")
It’s wildly different depending on the thing being remembered. Directions to places or where I got a part for my job, tasks I’ve done before, like mixing a certain color, 9. Facts and trivia, about a 9. Events in my life, maybe 7. For example, I don’t give a rip about NASCAR, but I remember exactly where I was when I heard Dale Sr died. People in movies, 7. For names of people that I meet, about a 2. Although all of my memory is getting progressively worse the older I get. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/6 "2011-02-22T17:03:55Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I used to have an astounding memory. Either age or illness or both have degraded it such that I now don’t trust _ **it’s** _ accuracy. I wouldn’t either. 😉 Mine is definitely diminishing with age, but I’d still give myself a 7 or 8. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/7 "2011-02-22T17:07:46Z")
Er… what was the question? Actually, I’m probably a 9. I can remember some astounding things. Sometimes I pull something out of my ass and people look at me like I’m some kind of freak and ask, “How the hell do you remember _that_?” It’s usually because I read it, and things that I read really stick with me. ---
**Author:** ![baileygrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@baileygrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/baileygrrrl)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/8 "2011-02-22T19:24:47Z")
I’m probably a 3 all around. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/9 "2011-02-22T23:30:12Z")
Pretty average. Good for some things, bad for others, and no real pattern to what sticks and doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/10 "2011-02-23T01:41:42Z")
Lets see: One hen Two ducks Three squawking geese Four limmerick oysters Five corpulent porpoises Six pairs of Don Alversos tweezers Seven Mastodonian warriors in full battle array on their way to a picnic Eight brass monkeys from the sacred ancient crypts of Egypt Nine lyrical spherical denizens of the deep ?? I’m trying to remember this from the 1970s. Okay, not so good, maybe a 5. At work I’m the one everyone asks when they want to know the name of a movie or an actor, even though it may take me 10 minutes to remember. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/11 "2011-02-23T02:00:11Z")
Like **Paintcharge** it varies wildly depending on subject but overall I’d say it’s probably fairly low, like a conservative 4-5. The cutoff point seems to be about a decade. Further than that things tend to get more than a bit hazy and unreliable. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/12 "2011-02-23T02:04:06Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > It’s wildly different depending on the thing being remembered. Yep. Things I’ve read and random trivia, at least an 8. Events in my own life…well, I usually remember that things happened, but pinpointing **when** they happened or in what sequence? 3, maybe a 4. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/13 "2011-02-23T02:07:05Z")
Trivia - 9.8 Names - .03 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/14 "2011-02-23T02:07:59Z")
Ever listen to a song you haven’t heard in 20 years and are able to sing along with all the lyrics? What’s that all about? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/15 "2011-02-23T17:41:00Z")
Trivial stuff, about a 9. Past events, birthdays, things people told me, what I had for lunch 2 days ago, about a 3. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/16 "2011-02-23T20:20:49Z")
I’m gonna say a 6. Adequate or a little better, but hardly outstanding. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/17 "2011-02-23T20:29:22Z")
Yeah, I didn’t think about different types of things to remember. I’m really good at names, faces, movie titles, book authors, etc., usually after I’ve read about them. For numbers, I’m usually within 10%. Usually, in terms of movie or novel plots, I can give a pretty accurate summary, maybe 60-80%. However, the other night when I re-watched As Good as It Gets, I was rather surprised that I only remembered like 20% of the film. However, I’m terrible at phone numbers, addresses, and songs. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/18 "2011-02-23T20:32:41Z")
Weird technical shit or life events that I loved? 10. Chronological events? 9.5. Names? 0. I guess that’s pretty common. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/19 "2011-02-23T20:58:03Z")
Depends. Mundane stuff like what my wife was wearing on our first date (pink sweater, we went to Mazzio’s Pizza for lunch), trivia that might come up on _Jeopardy!_ (the smallest state (geographically) west of the Mississippi is Hawaii), or similar stuff: 9.5. Names: .75. I’ve been working in a building with ~50 people for going on six months. I can only tell you about a third of their names. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211/20 "2011-02-24T01:14:22Z")
I think it depends how important something felt at the time whether I place it into long-term storage or not. I am familiar with the flashbulb memory psychological phenomenon, and I think this represents my memory fairly well. I remember the exact layout of my classroom, where I was sitting, and my teacher’s name from the day of September 11th. But there are great swaths of my childhood (months or years at a time) that were “just OK” and not worthy of storing anything about. It doesn’t necessarily seem to be related to how long ago it happened. I can vividly recall doing counting contests in first grade, losing my first tooth, and getting berated by my fourth grade teacher. But I remember almost nothing of 3rd grade at all except the name of my teacher. It just wasn’t a very noteworthy time of my life. I can’t really give an overall rating. The important things that I remember, I remember near-photographically and practically verbatim (so 9). The things I don’t, 0. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-your-memory/572211.md?page=2)