I’m both in some ways, but only through abstractions. If the info is connected in some intuitive chain I remember it for life. Things like names are not at all useful to me so I forget them easily. I barely know the roads to explain how to drive to my house by names, but I have ridden a bicycle everywhere in the county and know where all roads lead. Most will take me awhile to recall well enough to name and describe, but I picture them in my head instantly like a picture of the last time I rode them. One time I worked at a horse show for a couple of weeks just doing night security. I was so bored I memorized every horse and owner’s name along with the schedule just to call everyone by name and ask them relevant casual questions. It was a challenge just to prove to myself that I could. Still it had no value to me and I can’t recall a single person or horse now; only the abstraction that I can recall around 200 names and associations if I am very very bored.
I’m both in some ways, but only through abstractions. If the info is connected in some intuitive chain I remember it for life. Things like names are not at all useful to me so I forget them easily. I barely know the roads to explain how to drive to my house by names, but I have ridden a bicycle everywhere in the county and know where all roads lead. Most will take me awhile to recall well enough to name and describe, but I picture them in my head instantly like a picture of the last time I rode them. One time I worked at a horse show for a couple of weeks just doing night security. I was so bored I memorized every horse and owner’s name along with the schedule just to call everyone by name and ask them relevant casual questions. It was a challenge just to prove to myself that I could. Still it had no value to me and I can’t recall a single person or horse now; only the abstraction that I can recall around 200 names and associations if I am very very bored.