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INTP: weak memory

Nick

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Just a thought, this might relate to how we are shitty at remembering peoples names or such....

From this article:

All a memory is, is a new connection between neurons in the brain. When you want to remeber something you simply fire (electrical signals) up this new pathway.
This connection I talk about is called a synapse. The strength of the memory, ie how well you know it, is based off how 'strong' this synapse is.
Repetition or a very strong emotional link to what it is you are trying to remember help strengthen the synapse.


Such that our Fi/Fe is lacking most of the time, and we're devoid of emotion, the synapses are 'weak' joins?
 

rushgirl2112

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Since when are we devoid of emotion? :confused:

ETA: I don't remember people's names because of my distractibility, serious discomfort with social interactions (which causes me to miss all kinds of details), and being too much in my own head. Has nothing to do with emotions.

I have all kinds of extremely vivid memories, even from 30+ years ago. They're vivid because they carry emotional weight. The things I forget are largely facts that don't have much personal relevance.
 

Lot

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Since when are we devoid of emotion? :confused:

Ya. Probably not the best choice of wording there.

You do seem to be onto something there, though. But more than INTP's and other Introverts have trouble remembering names and such. I think it's more of a lack of caring. If there isn't much incentive to remember something, then why would we remember it. Then again I remember meaningless all the time.

I have more of a problem accessing memories, and facts. Or sometimes I can't remember a word. I just know the meaning of it. So I can't express what I want to say. Then 15 mins, or a week later, The answer hits me. I'd like an explanation for that part of my weak memory.
 

rushgirl2112

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I have more of a problem accessing memories, and facts. Or sometimes I can't remember a word. I just know the meaning of it. So I can't express what I want to say. Then 15 mins, or a week later, The answer hits me. I'd like an explanation for that part of my weak memory.

That happens to me all the time. I think it's random brain farts exacerbated - at least in my case! - by aging. It happens a lot to other people I know across different personality types, so it may just be a human thing rather than an INTP thing.
 

Latte

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You might be on to something.

It will take some time for this post to finish illustrating what it wants to divulge, so bear with me.

Implicational thinking paired with construction and maintenance generally applicable models which are routinely applicable precisely because they have to do with a lot of what one internally and externally experiences would act as a very good way to compensate for poor detail/general long term memory.
Looking at it the other way around, developing and maintaining a good long term memory is less necessary when one primarily utilizes heavy model-implication tendencies in cognition.

The strongest tool in the INTP toolbox being cognition through a model-implicational prism (Ti).

This could be another side of the coin of low emotion intensity. That high emotion intensity doesn't automatically develop due to strong Ti, or that strong Ti develops due to low emotion intensity.
This because of how emotion intensity affects memory.
 

WALKYRIA

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People always tell me I have a selective memory... I retain only and easily what strikes my attention and interest; the rest can go to hell. I have found also, that I can retain all the informations necesary to solve problems while I forget things related to daily lifes( faces, names, physical cues, birthdays, practical details, cooking, walking !).
SO really, We have great memory but it is context dependent !
 

Brontosaurie

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usually i remember autobiographical stuff - both episodic and semantic - more accurately then my ridiculously Si parents. also i tend to remember tons of mundane factoids in an unstructured fashion that does no good.

i have a rather difficult time remembering specific details or sources for intellectual concepts, but i remember their implications and connections rather well. this stems from individualist pride and vanity; i want my cerebral world to be a self-sufficient totality.
 

HDINTP

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I am not sure but when we talk about names I have to say that maybe I do not really remember names because I do not care. Really I think that is it. Few weeks ago I was asked about a name of a girl I was talking about and I said I do not know and I was asked "'But you two talked didn't you?" and I agreed but said that I still can't see why I should need to know the name. If I want to talk to someone then I go ahead and just do that (which in fact has more to do with my goal to start "DOING WHAT I ACTUALLY WANT TO DO" So that is why I think I do not remember names. But you probably are on something. INTPs aren't friends with their emotions and as we know we are not the biggest fans of repetition are we? So interesting...
 

mu is mu

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I personally don't understand why some people have questioned your claim that INTPs are "devoid of emotion," especially considering that they provided no reason for the case being otherwise, but that's a bit irrelevant to the topic at hand. Human memory, from what I understand, is much more complicated than the quote you had posted suggests, although that post does contain some valid points. Repetition and recitation are powerful tools for strengthening and maintaining long-term memories, and events that one perceives emotionally tend to be more memorable than events not perceived emotionally if all other factors remain equal.

However, factors such as concentration, context/setting, learning rate, the usage (or non-usage) of mnemonic techniques, meaningfulness, the degree to which one understands information related to what one is currently learning, intrinsic interest, extrinsic interest, and, yes, personality type--all of these and other factors can affect the strength of your memory regarding a topic or piece of information.

My guess as to why INTPs can be so poor at remembering names is because, as others have said, lack of interest. Why bother putting forth effort to remember something that you don't value? I would also imagine that INTPs in general tend to be more interested in focusing on their imaginations than they do on external reality, thus rendering their memory for some things considered important by Sensors--who focus on concrete minutia of external reality and on the present world--to be rather subpar. For example, it seems to me that Sensors are capable of providing driving directions in far more detail than I can, while their memory for matters that might interest an INTP oftentimes seems poor, if not non-existent. Interest and concentration are key.

As for the biological aspects of human memory… that I currently understand very little, but I don't suspect that our notorious forgetfulness of names is necessarily linked exclusively to our phlegmatic nature. For some highly social or emotional people memory of names may be regularly enhanced by the emotion involved with their meeting another person, but I suspect that the chief factor responsible for memory of names is interest. And while I won't contest that INTPs can be rather unemotional at times, the fact is that they do have emotions, and thus are likely to have their memory for names enhanced when their emotions regarding a person are aroused (e.g., meeting a significant other or discovering that someone scammed you).
 

Minicool

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INTP have a selective memory.
 

Grayman

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Such that our Fi/Fe is lacking most of the time, and we're devoid of emotion, the synapses are 'weak' joins?

Emotion is not really the factor that is important. It is the other 'connections' that trigger the memory and strengthen the synapses. Emotion is just one of many connections.

If I want to remember to drop off the mail on the way to work in the morning I can do something odd and flip my garbage can upside down so that it is out of place. Next morning I see the garbage can I recall everything about what I was going to do. It is just a connection I created and the stronger the impulse created in our environment the stronger the memory.

I suppose I could just write a note but what would be the fun of that? Plus I usually would need a note to remind me to look at the note anyways.

Reading the answer does not force recall as well as a less related connection to an idea. The garbage can forced me to recall and thus I remember the event more thoroughly than a note which simply provides me the result in writing so that I do not have to recall in order know what to do. In this case the note may not refire the synapsis and thus it does not become stronger. I may have to look at the note again while driving past my mailbox because I forgot again. Never happens when I flip the garbage upside down.
 

walfin

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Oddly enough I'm pretty OK with names.

It's schedules that are the bugbear. I can recall things on demand for the most part but my brain seems to have a somewhat impaired alarm clock function as compared to others, leading me to forget things I have to do etc.
 

Wolf18

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I use various memory techniques to, well… memorise. I am relatively good at looking at a person and associating a name with him/her, so I tend not to have too many problems with that type of thing. My problems come with schedules (what class do I have at 10am on Tuesday?). Generally, I can see time spatially, (days of the week, months of the year, etc). However, I have a hard time remembering what I need to do in the future (the essence of a schedule). After hurting my wrist due to a piano incident, I was able to memorise (the content of) one of my classes instead of taking notes.

SW
 

rushgirl2112

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I personally don't understand why some people have questioned your claim that INTPs are "devoid of emotion," especially considering that they provided no reason for the case being otherwise

It seems to me that if someone is asserting that INTPs are devoid of emotion, then they're the ones who need to back up the assertion. I didn't think I had to state the obvious, but I will if you like. The reason for my disagreement with the assertion is that I am NOT devoid of emotion. And neither are the other INTPs I've known, for that matter.

I have yet to read any description of this personality type that indicates that we don't have emotions. We simply don't use and process them the same way as other types. But that doesn't mean they aren't there. In fact, most of the sources I've read mesh pretty well with my own experience - that the emotions can actually be extremely strong, but they're held under tight control until they become too much and then burst forth uncontrollably.

If some INTPs are so out of touch with emotion that they feel devoid of it, I'm not going to say that their experience is invalid. But that doesn't mean the rest of us are like that, and I don't appreciate the "totally unfeeling INTP" stereotype at all. It's a gross oversimplification that honestly sounds more like something a feeling type would say about us, not understanding how we really work.

BTW, if there is some source that pegs us as completely unemotional, something to back up the OP's assertion, I'd be happy to look at it.
 

Grayman

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It seems to me that if someone is asserting that INTPs are devoid of emotion, then they're the ones who need to back up the assertion. I didn't think I had to state the obvious, but I will if you like. The reason for my disagreement with the assertion is that I am NOT devoid of emotion. And neither are the other INTPs I've known, for that matter.

I have yet to read any description of this personality type that indicates that we don't have emotions. We simply don't use and process them the same way as other types. But that doesn't mean they aren't there. In fact, most of the sources I've read mesh pretty well with my own experience - that the emotions can actually be extremely strong, but they're held under tight control until they become too much and then burst forth uncontrollably.

If some INTPs are so out of touch with emotion that they feel devoid of it, I'm not going to say that their experience is invalid. But that doesn't mean the rest of us are like that, and I don't appreciate the "totally unfeeling INTP" stereotype at all. It's a gross oversimplification that honestly sounds more like something a feeling type would say about us, not understanding how we really work.

BTW, if there is some source that pegs us as completely unemotional, something to back up the OP's assertion, I'd be happy to look at it.

Schizoids have similar traits as an INTP, and unhealthy ones match more frequently.

Prefer being alone and usually choose solitary activities
Prize independence and have few close friendships
Feel confused about how to respond to normal social cues and generally have little to say
Feel little if any desire for sexual relationships
Feel unable to experience pleasure
Come off as dull, indifferent or emotionally cold
Feel unmotivated and tend to underperform at school or work



Could be that they simply don't recognize their feelings also. I do agree with you. A normal healthy INTP has feelings.
 
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