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Long term memory - WTF

Started by madbean, November 09, 2018, 05:22:11 PM

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TNblueshawk

The major reason I never progressed in this hobby was my memory. By progression I mean once I got the easy basics down I quickly realized that I can't seem to recall the more difficult (to me) stuff. Shit simply doesn't stick with me unless I'm going over and over it for months/years on end.

I'll guess I'll probably remain a real good follower of directions and a real good implementer of others ideas and can build them but that is probably as far as I'll be able to go in understanding this electronics hobby.

Knowing my memory has never been good, this goes back to being my 20's, I'm in my mid 50's now, I realize that is just my DNA I guess. While I did get an MBA you would not believe the amount of studying I had to do to accomplish this. I never skipped class, listened and took notes both undergrad and MBA and I'm here to tell you I then had to hit the books and hard. I'm guessing I'm no genius  ;D

But, this makes me want to ask: To what extent do you believe that memory is tied to IQ?
John

ahiddentableau

Quote from: TNblueshawk on November 15, 2018, 12:01:28 PM
The major reason I never progressed in this hobby was my memory. By progression I mean once I got the easy basics down I quickly realized that I can't seem to recall the more difficult (to me) stuff. Shit simply doesn't stick with me unless I'm going over and over it for months/years on end.

I'll guess I'll probably remain a real good follower of directions and a real good implementer of others ideas and can build them but that is probably as far as I'll be able to go in understanding this electronics hobby.

Knowing my memory has never been good, this goes back to being my 20's, I'm in my mid 50's now, I realize that is just my DNA I guess. While I did get an MBA you would not believe the amount of studying I had to do to accomplish this. I never skipped class, listened and took notes both undergrad and MBA and I'm here to tell you I then had to hit the books and hard. I'm guessing I'm no genius  ;D

But, this makes me want to ask: To what extent do you believe that memory is tied to IQ?

My education is in law, so take that as a disclaimer.  I know a lot of IQ tests are designed to avoid specific factual knowledge, but in practice it matters, and it especially matters for the kind of quasi-IQ tests you need to take to enter the professions or to get ear-marked as management material in the corporate world.  The Wonderlic test is an example.  Memory is a huge factor on that test.  And the reading section of the LSAT and the verbal section of the GRE have major memory test components.  In the reading section you read something at breakneck speed and then rush through questions that mostly based on what you remember from the assigned passage.  You don't have time to re-read.  Can't remember whether the second paragraph emphasized time constraints or sampling errors?  Too bad, no law school for you.  Can you remember the definition of pusillanimous?  No?  So much for grad school.

Are results on the tests strongly corrolated with success in school or in your later work?  Not really!  But hey, we've got to trim the herd in some way, so I guess this is as good as any (that's pretty much word for word for how the dean of admissions at my school justified the system when questioned).  But it's pretty sobering that so much of the gatekeeping in our societies are based to heavily on something like this, particularly in an age when technology is rendering a lot of the emphasize on memory obsolete.

ahiddentableau

By chance (and in all likelihood because our new tech overlords' survillence of my life and interests), this popped up for me this morning.  So there are people like me who are face blind, but there are also people who are facial recognition superstars and apparently never forget a face.  Reminded me of an episode of 60 Minutes I saw years ago about people who can remember every minute of their lives with full recall.  For those who might want to take a "glass half full" view of the subject of memory:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/nov/11/super-recognisers-police-the-people-who-never-forget-a-face

diablochris6

I feel that my memory seems fairly intact. I have much strengths and weaknesses, of course. I'm great with putting a face with a place or event, horrible with names (I don't remember some people of the church Ive attended for ten years with a congregation size of 40-50), and even worse with song lyrics. Whatever deficits I have in memory aren't discoverable by my wife because she currently suffers from "3-kid mom-brain."

The real annoying part of memory is wondering why my brain wants to hold on to where I was at the 53rd time I heard Timberlake's "Sexy Back." Every time I pass that intersection, that diddy gets triggered.
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