# Types with the best memory?



## Satan Claus (Aug 6, 2013)

So my ENTJ friend (I believe he's an ENTJ) has an amazing memory! I thought good memory would be common for Si types, no? What types have the best memory?


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## LadyO.W.BernieBro (Sep 4, 2010)

lve seen people recount an experience in great detail that would seem entirely accurate to those who weren't there or didn't know the person well.


Usually they're corrected or questioned by an Si user who was.


Meh, it really involves other factors but l think could propose that certain types will place a higher value on their memory as a means to learn and process information, and they seemingly have the ''best'''.


l have a pet theory that Fi users have better autobiographical memory, in a way it ties in with Te.


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## actualjennings07 (Mar 5, 2010)

I am an ISFJ, and while I do have a very good memory, my ENFP friend has a memory that's just as good as mine, if not better. She constantly remembers little things other people have told her about themselves, for instance. Maybe good memory isn't strongly correlated to type ... ?


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## Purrfessor (Jul 30, 2013)

Well I can memorize an entire vocabulary list in two minutes before a test and get every answer correct. I've memorized 100 digits of pi but have forgotten that last 30 or so. Intuitives should have the best memory because in a psych book I read it said the best way to memorize things is to draw mental images to relate to things. Not many people have a better memory than me. - INFP


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## Velasquez (Jul 3, 2012)

Memory is a learnable, improvable skill, and thus I don't think it's really related to personality, which by nature remains static.


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## dulcinea (Aug 22, 2011)

I don't think any type has any advantage in memory over any other. Not sure if any of you guys are a fan of NF Geeks, but I like how he explains how all the introverted functions can be involved in memory. I can't seem to find it... grrr! Well anyway, he had stated that introverted feeling types (he is ENFP for those who haven't seen him) can remember things better by associating the thing with the way it made him feel, like he always put his keys on this hutch that he's had in his family for years, so he associated the keys with that feeling. I imagine that Si types have more sensory oriented memories. When I hear SJs tell stories, they tend to remember a lot about how something looked, tasted, smelled, etc.

As an NJ, my memory is more topical. If you throw any topic at me that there's a memory associated with, all the memories immediately flood into my brain in an extreme amount of details. (not sure if this is true of all NJs) I would imagine an ENXJ would take in a lot of sensory details and store them until it became relevant to a conclusion, because for NJ types memories are like index cards for a term paper. We tend to retain useful tidbits to either confirm or refute the ideas and conclusions that we're always formulating.

Introverted thinking memory, I would imagine would be analytical. idk, I'd have to hear from more TPs. But I do like the idea of how different introverted functions filter information differently. In fact, I have a lot of communication issues with SJs sometimes, because we can sometimes find the information that the other person remembers irrelevant.


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## ENTrePreneur (Aug 7, 2013)

I have the worst memory known to man. Or fish.


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## Scelerat (Oct 21, 2012)

I think all types can have amazing memory, my grandmother is an ESFJ and can relate "then I said and then he said" etc stories forever. I have a great "concept" memory. I worked with an ISTJ who could remember verbatim every single instruction poster he'd put on the wall, and there were about 20 hung in the office, some of them in multiple layers. 

My dad is an ESTP and he remembers situations very well, he can tell you exactly what happened in a given situation that took place 20 years ago.

My memory is like a sweater with a loose thread, pull it and it starts to unravel and the more you pull the more I remember. I can have a 3 hour conversation with you and not remember a word that was said.


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## Lemxn (Aug 17, 2013)

I know this ISTP she has the best memory I ever seen in my life. Also my ISTJ friend and sister have a great great memory too.


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## Coburn (Sep 3, 2010)

My ex-wife.












(kidding)


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## TripleCardinal (Nov 7, 2013)

People make fun of me for all the stupid little details I remember. It's never anything important: it's things someone said to me when I was five or the shirt someone was wearing at some random occasion. 

Don't ask what I did this past weekend!


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## RCKT82 (Nov 25, 2013)

ISTJs like to create lists and our Si dom trait draws from the past, so one could infer we have decent memories. Or it might just be the ritual of writing it down that helps it stick for us....I forget things all the time if: A. I don't write it down or B. Whatever it is has no merit/impact/value to commit to memory... If the subject is of importance to the individual, then I'm inclined to believe that they'll remember it regardless of type.


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## EternalNocturne (Nov 4, 2011)

I have a great long term memory, but I'm ADD so I might not remember insignificant things like someone bringing me a cup of tea 10 minutes ago, because my brain is focused elsewhere.
That said, when my attention is drawn, I tend to remember things quite well. 
Oh, and specific types of of things. I'm rubbish at remember dates unless I have a sort of association. (IE, I'll remember Abe was born Nov 6, but only because I remember that a different friend, Alli, was born the day after, and each year they have a sort of exchange.) (Real case, I just switched out their names)
In general, I tend to remember things in an almost most form. I remember when I was in New Mexico, walking up to some bar stools with.. I think a red cushion- and how they were taller than I, and how I had to be lifted onto them.
Well, apparently I had just turned 3 at that point. (I haven't been in New Mexico since my great grandfather's funeral, and he died April 1 (easy to remember because of April Fools.. Sorry, that's kind of a funny day to die), and my birthday is Jan 24.)
That's the only thing I remember from that trip, though.

My ENTJ father doesn't have the most incredible memory, but funnily enough, he remembers one significant thing about that even 17 years ago. Apparently I walked over to the casket, asked to be lifted up to see him, and exclaimed to the group "Yeap, he sure is dead!"

Kind of interesting that at 3 I already understood death. Kind of cool actually. haha


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## monemi (Jun 24, 2013)

I have a good memory for relevant details. Events/situations and things better than people. Trying to remember names and faces... I suck. But when questioned by the police about a suspect from a bank robbery and a guy that left the scene of an accident, my descriptions of race, age, height, clothes, hair and vehicles make/model and colour were right on the mark. Faces... I didn't have a clue what their faces looked like. I don't even know if I looked at their faces. 

My memory for relevant details is excellent.


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## StunnedFox (Dec 20, 2013)

I have a fairly good memory, but it's not always relevant. For instance, I remembered the exact dates I went to see two movies in 2002 a couple of days ago (and a third which I didn't go to but the rest of my family did), without any real reason to.

As others have said, I suspect there are quite a few of the functions associated with memory, to the point where most, if not all, types would be capable of possessing a good memory.


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## Pendit76 (Jul 31, 2013)

Memory is completely independent of type. It would be like suggesting that innate running speed or benching weight was related to personality. You can improve your memory, just like your vertical leap, so this is a futile exercise to determine what type has the "best memory".

Memory is correlated with IQ, which is hard to associate with type. Does type determine IQ, or do "smarter" people tend to just be certain types. Empirical data is much more apropos for this thread than the anecdotal reasoning that everyone seems to engaging one.


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## googoodoll (Oct 20, 2013)

ENTrePeneur said:


> I have the worst memory known to man. Or fish.


That's not surprising, it's been claimed that NT's have the worst memory of the temperaments.


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## googoodoll (Oct 20, 2013)

xSxJ probably, damn i'm always surprised by how many things people can remember like way back, like years ago and i'm just sitting there like i can't even remember what happened yesterday, let alone 5 years ago.


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## braided pain (Jul 6, 2012)

I'm fine with attaching information to names or faces, but putting a name to a face fails me unless I've met them before knowing anything about them. ("That lady? She's the one whose husband bought that house there by the river. I dunno her name.")

I'm great at specifics of a conversation; I've had years of dealing with chronic liars and having to rip apart the details like a prosecutor.

Fairly good with facts and figures, but definitions always make me tired and wanting to do something else.


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## Sol_ (Jan 8, 2013)

types have best memory for things related to their strong functions


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## Scelerat (Oct 21, 2012)

Pendit76 said:


> Memory is completely independent of type. It would be like suggesting that innate running speed or benching weight was related to personality. You can improve your memory, just like your vertical leap, so this is a futile exercise to determine what type has the "best memory".
> 
> Memory is correlated with IQ, which is hard to associate with type. Does type determine IQ, or do "smarter" people tend to just be certain types. Empirical data is much more apropos for this thread than the anecdotal reasoning that everyone seems to engaging one.


I think you also have to consider the function's effect on a memory. Si imbues the actual data with a subjective feel, so when you hear an Si user tell a story about something that happened there is always a ton of irrelevant data in there. My ISTJ ex co-worker is exhausting because he remembers a lot of shit, but none of it matters. You could condense a 3 hour speech into 14 seconds of relevant data.


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## Courtalort (Jun 29, 2013)

I have a very good memory. I can remember exact things people said to me, stories I read, even test questions. I would always do very well on finals in college because my professors would use the same questions from other tests, and I would remember the question and therefore the answer.


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## DeductiveReasoner (Feb 25, 2011)

I'd say Si users?

I can remember random details from years ago, like a conversation I had with one of my best friends when we were in kindergarten.

If only I could remember where I put my keys ten minutes ago...


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## googoodoll (Oct 20, 2013)

DeductiveReasoner said:


> I can remember random details from years ago


^ This so much, when i have to dabble in memory lane with my SJ family, it's the worst thing ever cause they always assume i'm just pretending i don't remember, when i just don't remember lol, but i remember all the random stuff (which then causes them to think i'm lying even more), not every detail.


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## LadyO.W.BernieBro (Sep 4, 2010)

l find that l remember things better when l do one thing at a time, which has become practically impossible for me to do online.


My brain may have always been similar to this:Does life online give you 'popcorn brain'? - CNN.com but it wasn't as bad and l think that younger people typically have better long term memories, simply by having less to remember


My natural instict would be to start on 3-4 things at a time, when l attempt to do only thing for as little as 20-30 minutes l've been impressed by the immediate results. Seems more ''solid''...compartmentalized.


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## dreamsunwind (Dec 1, 2013)

I'm an ENFP whose mnemonic genius pretty much extends to little details about people like their birthdays, their favorite colors, etc. but I'm also pretty good at remembering dates of certain events, even if the events themselves are blurry. I'm very much given to remembering what people tell me and what I hear. For example, about five years ago in elementary school my friend (who I never talk to now) told me her birthday was January 4th; a few weeks ago in French class one of my newer friends asked another when that friend's birthday was. I was able to tell them what her birthday was, but not why she told me or whether we were talking in class.


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