I find this stuff fascinating. I myself have an unusual memory and have a lot of very early memories. I remember little bits and pieces from my first year of life: the color of the wall at the foot of the stairs and my mobile hanging over my crib (even that Tigger was ripped in half). I recently drew the layout of the home we lived in when I was a young toddler to prove to my mother that I did remember it. I constantly remind people of things that we did or random family memories that they have either totally or mostly forgotten. I get very frustrated when no one else remembers something that is so vivid to me!
My memory is very spatial I guess you might say, I always know where everyone was and the layout of the place we were in as well as the orientation of everything. If I am recalling a phone conversation I will know that I was driving when the conversation occurred and I will remember all sorts of things about the drive that I probably otherwise would have forgotten if I hadn't saved them with my memories of the phone conversation. I'll be able to say that when I said such and such I was at the red light by the Target for instance, info I don't think most people retain.
As an adult I forget almost nothing life memory wise. I have a great memory for facts as well (I'm that person who always chimes in on any subject because I not only have a good memory, I also spend hours a week on the internet learning about just about everything), but I might forget a number or date quite easily on a wiki I just read for example.
I also am able to find pretty much any line from a book if someone picks it out and reads it to me. I will know about where it is on the page, whether it was on the right or left page, and remember where it was at in the story and be able to locate it within seconds. OTOH, I can not quote passages any better than anyone else generally, so it's all about prompted recall there I guess.
DS6 has a very good memory, but he did forget all of the early stuff that he learned. He forgot all of the species of frogs that he memorized at 2 for instance. In fact, he was amazed the other day when I told him about all of the frogs he used to know. He never lost skills, like he didn't get worse at puzzles after taking a long break or lose reading progress when his interest waned, but he did lose information that he had learned. He learned the states at around age 2 and after a year still knew some of them and relearned them quickly, but I just went over the states with him this week and he only remembered about half.
I used to wonder what the point was of teaching him these things when he was little. I was pretty sure he would forget it all. But I told myself it wasn't going to harm him in any way and maybe it would enhance his brain development in some way. Plus he really wanted to learn! It is a little disappointing that after all those hours he spent pouring over that reptiles and amphibians book he doesn't remember even a single frog or toad. He doesn't even like frogs anymore. Oh well.
DS does remember new words so well that he always amazes me. Just hearing a word once he starts using it in conversation. He never seems to forget any word he has learned. We never define words for him, he just picks up the meaning through context. He also turned out to be an excellent speller, he writes a word once and knows the spelling from that point on (unlike me, I am a terrible speller). He quickly memorizes math facts after figuring them out. He was wondering how many minutes were in a year the other day, calculated it all in his head, and now knows the number as a permanent fact in his brain. He memorized a bunch of molecules after building each once with my chemistry set and quickly memorized the periodic table. He often says things that surprise us, bringing up an old memory or randomly telling us something we had taught him years ago and thought for sure he must have forgotten. I think he is a little young still to say where he is memory wise. Plus he has severe ADHD, which makes focusing difficult and seems to interfere with his thoughts a bit. His working memory is amazing though when he is actually able to calm down and access it. I, OTOH, have no working memory to speak of!
His father can't remember much of anything from his childhood, or even earlier today. And he is supposed to be the "gifted" one. He forgets the content of entire conversations and that they even took place within a few days. It's honestly infuriating, especially since I remember everything so well. Plus he insists they never happened and it's all in my mind. Even when I have witnesses. Apparently he thinks we are having a mass hallucination. He claims that he only remembers important things to keep his brain uncluttered and that my brain is just inefficient! He is mathy like DS and has an amazing working memory (to me anyway, maybe it isn't all that amazing... I struggle to keep just about anything in my working memory for more than a moment. I often can been heard repeating something as I walk across the house so that when I get to my destination I will remember what it was I needed to do).
I love knowing so much stuff. I feel like it contributes to an overall understanding of the world and allows me to better analyze situations in general. I can honestly say that I wonder sometimes at all the time I spend learning. When I die all of that info accumulated will be gone anyway. But I can't seem to help myself. Put me in front of a PC and I will quickly end up finding something I want to learn about that leads to something else that leads to something else, etc. until it's hours past when I should have gone to bed and I've gotten nothing done. Pointless, I know, but I guess it's a better addiction than others!
