<p>the cognitive skills of a human population have a great variance. I am more like your friend, with episodic memory below average but semantic memory above average. You seem to have episodic memory above average (I envy you on that, because a large part of our feeling of self identity depends on episodic memory). There are extreme cases of people that remember almost everything they experience or read, or hear. A nice book on the topic is Luria's book "the mind of a mnemonist". It is a short book, and I'm sure you'll find it pretty interesting.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T15:54:22.780Z
"a large part of our feeling of self identity depends on episodic memory" --- this is a limiting belief that makes you less happy.
osa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-06T23:57:07.347Z
2014-07-06T23:57:07.347Z
Wolphram jonny
<p>The remembering of specific events is known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episodic_memory" rel="nofollow">Episodic memory</a>, and you can find plenty about it online. It's usually contrasted with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_memory" rel="nofollow">Semantic memory</a>, which is generalized knowledge such as that "Paris is the capital of France".</p>

<hr>

<p>I'm going to leave it to other users, or myself at a later date, to provide additional references/explanation, but those are the terms you're looking for.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-03T10:55:58.233Z
2014-07-03T10:55:58.233Z
Eoin
<p>My female colleague cannot remember a discussion (dialogue) from a couple days ago or even yesterday, much less the full, exact sentences spoken. She jokes about having sclerosis. I can remember many dialogues from the last couple of years and even further, including the exact sentences – not all the dialogues from my life, but like 80% of those which were interesting, odd, or very funny, or made at least small impact in my life. Is this kind of long memory normal in people? Does it have a name?
Thanks.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T15:52:19.323Z
Have you read [The Mind of a Mnemonist](http://www.amazon.com/The-Mind-Mnemonist-Little-Memory/dp/0674576225)?
osa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-19T19:45:50.627Z
@osa nope, but I will. Thanks for a suggestion.
oski86
<memory><long-term-memory>
A type of long-term memory where I can remember full dialogues
oski86
# A type of long-term memory where I can remember full dialogues

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-07-02)

My female colleague cannot remember a discussion (dialogue) from a couple days ago or even yesterday, much less the full, exact sentences spoken. She jokes about having sclerosis. I can remember many dialogues from the last couple of years and even further, including the exact sentences – not all the dialogues from my life, but like 80% of those which were interesting, odd, or very funny, or made at least small impact in my life. Is this kind of long memory normal in people? Does it have a name?
Thanks.

**Tags:** memory, long-term-memory

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Have you read [The Mind of a Mnemonist](http://www.amazon.com/The-Mind-Mnemonist-Little-Memory/dp/0674576225)?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 nope, but I will. Thanks for a suggestion.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-07-06. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

the cognitive skills of a human population have a great variance. I am more like your friend, with episodic memory below average but semantic memory above average. You seem to have episodic memory above average (I envy you on that, because a large part of our feeling of self identity depends on episodic memory). There are extreme cases of people that remember almost everything they experience or read, or hear. A nice book on the topic is Luria's book "the mind of a mnemonist". It is a short book, and I'm sure you'll find it pretty interesting.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: "a large part of our feeling of self identity depends on episodic memory" --- this is a limiting belief that makes you less happy.  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2014-07-03. Score: 1

The remembering of specific events is known as [Episodic memory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episodic_memory), and you can find plenty about it online. It's usually contrasted with [Semantic memory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_memory), which is generalized knowledge such as that "Paris is the capital of France".

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I'm going to leave it to other users, or myself at a later date, to provide additional references/explanation, but those are the terms you're looking for.


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