You're looking at Less Wrong's discussion board. This includes all posts, including those that haven't been promoted to the front page yet. For more information, see About Less Wrong.

Sherincall comments on [Open Thread] Stupid Questions (2014-02-17) - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: solipsist 17 February 2014 05:34AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (136)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: Sherincall 21 February 2014 02:36:17AM *  2 points [-]

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.

Comment author: ChristianKl 25 February 2014 01:55:26PM 1 point [-]

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.

I think most of them test short term memory. In a lot of cases we care about long term memory.