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moridinamael comments on [Open Thread] Stupid Questions (2014-02-17) - Less Wrong Discussion
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I'm trying to figure out if I
have an average memory, but the availability heuristic biases me toward finding examples of other people remembering things that I don't remember, or
I have a below average memory.
I guess I think this is a stupid question because how are you supposed to help me answer it via online message board? But it seems like kind of a typical problem to have, being unable to tell the difference between "I'm performing fine but I disproportionately notice my mistakes" and "I am actually performing poorly."
What do you plan on doing with an answer to this question?
This seems easily testable. Though I cannot recommend any, I'm sure there are online memory tests that let you know how you performed relative to all the other subjects. Maybe not good enough, as there is a selection bias in the sample of people who take those tests, but it will give you some info.
However, I think that you have an above average memory and are only noticing this because you usually hang around people who have above average memory as well[1]. Perhaps a more useful test would be getting your friends to take the test as well and compare the results. Maybe ask on LW for subjects? I'd participate.
[1] Assumptions:
You have an above average IQ. I a priori assume this of all LWers.
There is a positive correlation between IQ and memory. A quick search gives results in favor of the assumption, but I didn't dig deeper.
You hang around people of similar IQ.
I think most of them test short term memory. In a lot of cases we care about long term memory.
Memory is a complex process and there are different kinds of specialized memory modules in the brain. Have you noticed that you have a problem with specific kinds of memories? Do you have problems with attention? You might not encode the memories in the first place.
There are a lot of different kinds of memory. You might have a good memory for some facts that you care about and a bad memory for facts that you don't care about.
Memory is always related with the interest in the specific subject. A survey suggest that people remember each and every detail of their favorite thing. For example, men always know more about cars.
Do you have many more memories of other people remembering things when you don't remember them than you have memories of things you remember that others don't remember?