Ridiculously accurate memory

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This is a thread about times where you have a ridiculously accurate memory.

I have not seen the 1995 Disney movie "Pocahontas", since I saw it in 1995, nor have I heard any of the music from that film since then. However, for some reason I remembered some song from that film - it just stuck in my head. About a half hour ago I went and checked on youtube (after playing it on my synthesizer), and it turns out I remembered the song perfectly - note for note, matching the pitches perfectly as well (but none of the words - there were no words remembered).

I do this with a lot of films I watch, but this one I watched as a child and did not watch ever again, yet I remember the song perfectly.

I also have very good long term memory in general.

Do any of you auties or aspies out there have ridiculously accurate memories at times?

For subjects of interest, i can remember things vividly including the minute details, but for other things i have trouble remembering things for example rote memory or movie plots or quotes.

My memory is horrible sometimes but for some reason I can remember almost every movie I've ever seen. It drives my wife crazy cause she'll rent a movie and we'll start watching it and within 5 min I say "we've seen this". I also have a very hard time watching a movie twice unless it's very good.

I can remember things from childhood vividly.I don,t know if this is really a good thing since you remember all the cruddy things too.I can remember smells,tastes,textures with equal clarity.Sometimes a certain smell is enough to trigger a memory.I can remember poems and songs I learned in childhood and I can still recite them.At least you never forget who borrowed a book or money.

I can remember my playschool days as if they were a NT's yesterday.

This is true - but I've had difficulty in dealing with the person I leant it to not remembering.

I have lots of vivid preschool memories - always playing alone (this didn't change in elementary school, for the most part) - I even remember specific things like getting to play with these spinny plastic things shaped like dragonflies that I really really liked (I love objects that spin). I also remember things like specific field trips we took, specific conversations, songs the teacher played for us on her autoharp (didn't know the name at the time). I remember we once had police come over to talk with us and show us their car and all that, and I got to sit in the drivers seat and turn on the siren. Only time I've ever been in a cop car (hopefully things remain that way).

I have a very perfect memory for things of interest. It happens with a lot of movies and cartoons. Since the first time I saw it, I remember perfectly the scene where Fenton tries to retrieve Scrooge's dime from the Beagle Boys as Gizmoduck, even though I hadn't seen it in years. I remember his exact words, his tone of voice, everything. I can also remember entire movies and episodes. It's as if I was playing them in my head.

Music uses a different kind of memory from language - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music-related_memory - there are some cases where a person severely affected by dementia to the point of not being able to remember any of the recent past is still able to play music (can't find where I read this somehow, though).

I'm 29 and remember my pre-school days (age 3) like it was yesterday. I still remember the sights, smells, how uncomfortable I was and worst of all, how I cried my eyes out the first day because I thought I was being punished by being sent there. Overall though the memories are pleasant (still remember that crazy 80's hair the two teachers had) but boy I was sick of having to constantly learn new songs. My favorite activity was to just push myself around the gym on these little pushcarts. I still remember the black doors with the little push handle and the brick lobby with the small classroom off to the side.

That's probably why I get along so well with children under 5. When they tell me about an activity they did, unlike most I can clearly remember when I was in their shoes and what I felt at the time and easily get down to their level. I still remember I was shocked to recently find out many people don't remember anything before age 6. I clearly remember being 2 and while I can't verify it, I have memories of being a baby and the tremendous feeling of ecstasy of being at the park on a spring day. I was just sitting around but the good feeling was beyond words.

I can also know my way around a city I just visited like I was a long time resident. I guess years of studying maps really paid off! I would be a perfect tour guide if not for the fact I find it very difficult to put into words.

GiantHockeyFan, you felt ecstasy as a baby?

I can't completely verify it but everything I've learned as an adult matches the memory. I recently found out that park did indeed exist and we moved away when I was 11 months old. The feeling I got from that memory is like nothing I have ever experienced before. I would say it's the secular equivalent of a religious experience.

I also had memories as a kid that seem to indicate a past life but I'm not even going to try to go near that one and that's a very long discussion.

I used to work at a Dunkin Donuts/ Baskin Robbins and they ALWAYS had me work the drive through area. Why? Because of my memory. It was faster for me to just memorize the orders as they came in rather than having to put them into the computer. It was probably even more accurate since I only messed up on orders whenever the customer told me their order incorrectly.
This customer had ordered about 6 dozen donuts, a few sandwiches, a couple of coffees and a small chocolate shake with whipped cream and chocolate syrup on top. I put the donuts in the boxes in the same exact order as she tells them to me as well as doing the same thing for her coffees. I ring the lady up and she SWEARS that she ordered a medium shake. I don't see how I can get your "6 dozen donuts" AND your coffees perfectly and yet mess up on the chocolate shake.... .... .. .

Partial photographic memory-- it drove my teachers nuts. If they made an error, I could usually tell them the page and paragraph in the textbook on which the correct information could be found. They did not appreciate the information. I finally learned to correct them quietly, after class. They still did not like it. Well, shoot, I just thought they would want to know the correct answer. I sure would!
Suffice it to say, I was not a teacher's pet.

I can remember phone numbers and addresses from my childhood and unimportant stuff like that, and random facts that I read in the shows I caption and random moments of life. But I don'tthink that's what we're talking about here. Never mind.

To me, a phone number has kind of a texture. Sometimes it helps to have the keyboard and then it's a matter of finding the thread of the memory so to speak. If it's a number I called a lot, I can remember it for ten years or longer.