Memorising things

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Are any of you good at memorising random things? I am currently learning train routes off by heart. I used to know pi to 300 decimal places. During my A-levels I memorised chemistry data tables and when I was in primary school I did things like learning the Beaufort Wind Scale off by heart and all the different types of clouds.

Yes. I won't go into great detail, but I've collected a vast ammount of information trough the years ranging from scientific constants to sport scores and other trivial stuff. I also know 300 places of pi btw and 100 places of phi

I'm really good at memorizing different things.

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Thanks for sharing the type of incredible memory you have.

Very few persons can memorize pi to 300 decimal places (my understanding).

I memorized pi to the limit of: pi = 3.1416 = five digits.

My attention digit span as a child was so short that I could not easily add more than 3 digit numbers (using pencil and paper). Also, my attention letter span was about three syllables. Anything over three syllables was too long a word for my attention span.

Years later I was diagnosed with ADHD Inattentive and found a medicine which works a little for me (not a cure).

The medicine (not a cure) allows me to use seven or more digits numbers easily (1,000,000 etc.) as well as to comprehend words like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Words

Paying Attention
Working memory/Short term memory
Medium term memory
Long term memory

Comprehension

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodmi ... ntion.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/

I have a good recognition memory (imperfect) but a weaker recall memory (more imperfect).

http://www.waiting.com/glossarya.html (Paying attention)
http://www.waiting.com/glossarym.html (Memory)

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http://www.sportsconcussions.org/

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Question of the day:

How do you spell Warren Buffett?

Answer:

$40,000,000,000 plus (2009).

How do you spell Charlie Chaplin?

Answer:

$0.10.

Thank you for the posts.

I memorize movie quotes and songs well.

I have an excellent memory for random things, from peoples names to passwords to names of animals, etc. My head is stuffed full of trivia.

I have always had a tendency – sometimes becoming a compulsion – to remember tidbits of what would generally be considered useless information. In addition, maps of roads and transport systems are hard to ignore, as they are written in the native language of my cognitive processing, much like being in a foreign country and spotting something written in your native language. I can also remember numbers extremely well, often without trying. Once I remember something, I don't forget quickly.

About 30 years ago, I knew pi to 1,100 places. I can today recall about 700.

Yeah I can memorize all kinds of things, especially if I can see them - like a page layout or numbers. It's sort of a past time of mine. I used to enjoy memorizing irregular verbs in bunches of different languages.

happymusic, lucky you. I am lousy at memorizing - for irregular verbs I have to get the pattern in my head as a Gestalt. Fortunately, most irregular verbs are actually regular intersections of complex phonologic phenomena.

One grammar of Siwi [ fringe Berber language from the Siwa oasis] claimed ALL Siwi verbs were irregular. Pretty sure that was his atrocious ear and transcription systyem working with the complex patterns of Berber where there are too many weak radicals.

Pi to 1,100 dp is impressive.

I've learnt the London to Brighton train route as well as all the London Waterloo to various places in Surrey trains on the Southwest Trains routes.

I tend to remember birthdays and phone numbers and still remember phone numbers of people that no longer have that number and can remember specific events and dates and what time they happened and what the outcome was.

Transport systems, and train routes in particular, just beg to be memorised. A one-time commuter from the Chiltern Hills, I knew the entire Tube (plus Overground) system – lines, stations, layouts of the more complex stations – after a short time here. Naturally, this extended to the Chiltern Railways routes (timetables included). Now having travelled further afield on a couple of occasions, I know the Virgin Trains and First Great Western routes, but not the schedules.

I agree completely. I live in London and can navigate myself around the Underground without difficulty, although I do admit sometimes I have to refer to the map.

I don't know if it's memorizing or not, but I can remember everything I see and hear.

Well kind of; I try not to remember a lot of stuff.

However, if I ever get into a conversation with someone about something they said years before, I can pretty much play the whole thing back in my head like a movie. I can usually see the situation as if I'm there again, unfortunately feelings also come with that kind of recall.

The down side to this kind of recall is that I also remember dumb things I said to people many years ago, as if I just said it - and I still feel super dumb for saying them.

For instance, like the time I proposed to my 1st grade teacher.

"Are you married?"
"No, why?"
"Good! Because you and me are getting married right after lunch today!"

That type of stuff - oh god I'm going to crawl under my desk and hide now.

How dumb I was when I was 4.

i work weird when it comes to memorizing things. some things i can remember easily (like to phone number of a girl i knew over a decade ago), or things that seem very unimportant. the important things however, i usually can't memorize (like i still have troubles with the names of my immediate workmates i know for 10 years). but i know a lot of people's names i've only met once or twice long years ago.

i remember some sentences i heard years ago from someone, sometimes i can't remember words i heard just 2 seconds ago.

but what i'm really good at is memorizing routes. i went to slovenia long years ago on my bike. like 5 years later i went to venice by bike, and i perfectly remembered the route through slovenia. sometimes i told my gf sentences like "we'll soon get to a wooden bus stop where we will have to turn left" and things like that. she was really surprised how I could remember such things.

i can memorize routes even on google maps, and then i work like a human gps. i surprised my gf again last year when we drove up to rovaniemi, finland, to visit santa. i memorized city maps before we set off (actually, i wouldn't call it memorizing, because i just took a short look at google maps). so one week and some thousand km later, we went to see a museum, and i told my gf, that "ok, now behind that corner there will be a mcdonalds, then we turn left, then straight ahead two roads, then we'll turn right, and the museum will be right in front of us". and i was right.