Memory

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Does anyone else find that when it comes to remembering things their brain is happy to memorise a 16 digit bank card number without any problems but you ask it where your have put you house keys and it's a case of needing to ask the audience, take a 50/50 or phone a friend? I don't want to be a millionaire though, I just want to be able to unlock the darn door...

Even if you put something down on a table you are sitting at without moving away from said table it results in the item you just put down getting lost and a 2 hour search to find it...

Any one else as scatty brained as I can be?

Sort of. I have a set place for everything important, and I always put everything in it's place, so that I always know where everything is. Otherwise, it would be chaos!

My memory is rubbish, so I think I just keep absolute order to compensate.

I have the same kinds of problems with remembering things--if I can't see something and it's not in a set place where it always is, then it's like it drops out of existence. I think it's because I can only focus on one thing at a time, and my short term memory sucks.

I, too, can easily memorize something like my library card number...I think it's because such a string of numbers can exist in my mind independently of other things that might change (like location/context), and so it goes easily into long term memory and can be recalled easily from long term memory. (Anybody else find similar reasons for the ability to remember some things and not others?)

When I was losing my keys at least once a day I put up a hook near my front door that was only for keys and nothing else. I found one was large and decorative (the backing was an animal shape and it actually had a few hooks on it) so that I would be less likely to forget that it was there while I was developing the habit of putting my keys on it every time I got home.

Yes I usually have everything in its place so that I can find it but then I get accused of being a bit OCD lol. The problem is that when I don't have a place for everything and everything is not in it's place I have to spend half my life looking for it.

I am unable to memorize numbers either.

I try to find places for things so that I'll remember them. The problem is that I often forget what that place is, so I end up effectively hiding things from myself all the time. It's fine for common things that I use every day, but things that don't get regular use? I never can find where I put them.

I get accused of being OCD too. I'm the same with all the things that I don't keep in a set place (basically, anything made of paper) - I have to spend hours searching through piles and boxes.

exactly.

i do in fact have my credit card number (and driver's licence number, and bank account number) memorized and a hook in my hallway by the door where the keys get put immediately when i walk in .. because if i walk further into the apartment with them, they are lost. i also have to go in & out the exact same way because i will not remember locking the door or taking the keys with me, and the only thing that keeps me from panicking about it after i've left is the knowledge that i do it the same way every time and am unlikely not to take the keys or lock the door.

Last edited by katzefrau on 01 May 2011, 12:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I have no problem memorizing my own banking details such as credit card number and what follows it (what a bother it would be having to have the card with me ever time I wanted to place an order) .
A friend visited about a little more than a week ago and I was about to purchase Portal 2. He saw me ordering without having my credit card with me and was amused. I had previously thought that it was something everyone had memorized.

I do have problems with remembering small tasks others give me. It might be because I put it aside for "later", and continue with my obsessive interest. When they ask later if I have done what they told me I reply "If I have done what?", or "dohhh".
It's not always like that, but it tends to happen from time to time.

If I give myself a task I have no problems remembering it though. I guess it's just the ego inside of me; I set myself before others.

I don't have any problem remembering where I put things such as the keys etc, but I like everyone else can forget.

I am very bad at remembering details like numbers AND things like where I put something. Your example of house keys is a real problem. I usually just end up taking the key that is in the door lock on the inside.

However, I can remember things that happened a long time ago such as in Kindergarten. I remember where I had all my birthday parties.

The way I deal with keeping track of keys:
I always put my keys in my pants pocket when I'm not immediately using them. This ensures that I know where to find them. (If I have no pockets, they go in my purse, but that always worries me a bit. I feel a bit lost wearing things with no pockets.) For a bit in the winter I was putting them in my coat pocket so that I could zip my coat up before walking out the door, but I discovered that that was a bad idea when I took off my coat in my office and went to the washroom and came back to find that I'd locked myself out of my office.

I basically always lock my house door from the outside when I leave the house. Even when my housemates are home and would be willing to lock up after me, I lock up for myself, because this makes sure that it's a habit. If I always lock the door with the key when I leave the house, I always have my keys with me when I'm out of the house. This way if, for instance, I've changed which pair of pants I'm wearing and the keys are in the old pair, I'll notice the problem before it's too late.

When I used to drive a bit, I made a habit of always taking the keys out of the ignition in the same motion as turning the car off. And of course, once the keys come out of the ignition, they go in my pants pocket. That was my method to make sure I didn't leave my keys in the car.

I have terrible short term memory to the point they tested me for alzheimers before starting testing for AS. My long term memory is fantastic, right back to being a baby, which psychologists say cant happen.

I have also the same problem with stuff that "disappeared". I simply just forget where I put them.
What I think the problem is that the concentration is "away" at that moment when you put your keys on the table for example. At that moment I'm not paying attention and just dreaming/thinking about something.
Fixed places for my keys(for example) is one solution and when you put down your keys just disable the autopilot.

it may sometimes just be absent-mindedness but for me it is definitely also a short term memory problem, because i am well aware of it causing problems and if i put down my phone or a book i'm reading or anything else in an unusual spot, i will pay special attention to putting it down and still will not know where it is. when i do finally see it, then i recall putting it down in the spot.

my memory is terrible anyway and i even have long term memory problems recalling events without some sort of trigger, which is usually a sensory experience of the event (a picture of the setting, or sometimes a song or a smell). some obscure facts i will remember forever, and geometry formulas i learned over 20 years ago, but not what i ate yesterday, or what i did on my birthday last year ..

Yes, my longterm memory for numbers is excellent (Though access can be slow for uncommonly accessed items.) while my longterm memory for just about everything else appears to be shot (Especially semantic information, at times, and recalling arbitrary titles and names.), while my short-term memory appears to be excellent. However, I think I lack an adequate frame of reference, so I'm not going to guarantee the accuracy of my statements until memory testing concludes.

my memory is very specific in this aspect too; i can recall lyrinc and melodic lines from every song i ever heared, but that one perticular math function i've been using/studying on for weeks in a row keeps eluding me...

as for the more specific house keys example (and any other simular situation); i always forget where i put them, ask me what you will, i got no clue, but when i need the keys, i just stand up and grab them.
i also know i can produce, within seconds, my 6-year old reference studybooks, although for the life of me, i dont remember where i put them; it more like a memory reflex. as if it's not inportant to put that kind of information into my concious memory, but inportant enough to keep at a hair-trigger supconciously...

For the most part my files on my brain's hard drive are secure and backed up regularly. However, my search function is broken. If I need to recall a piece of information, I can never seem to find it. For example, if I ask myself if there's anything I need to buy I won't be able to think of anything, but if I'm in a store and walk by the cat food isle, I'll remember that I needed to buy cat food. Same thing for keys. If I ask myself where I put them, I never remember, but if I see them in a different spot I'll remember why I put them there instead of the usual place and I will remember that I told myself not to forget.