Do you have a phonographic memory?

Or something close to it?

The other day I was listening to a podcast with two comedians, Neal Brennan and Jimmy Carr. If you like comedians talking about their wounds (hand raised here), this is the pod for you. Carr mentioned that despite his dyslexia, he has close to a “phonographic memory.” Impeccable recall for audio. He can even tell you where he was when he was listening to a certain section of a podcast or audiobook.

The proper term for this is Echoic memory, coined by German psychologist Ulric Nesser in 1967. 

Does anyone else have this ability? It fascinates me. Personally, my memory is pretty damn sharp. For a while, I even thought it was phonographic. But then I met my girlfriend, who is pretty much a Chat GPT with sandy hair. So, I’ll put myself somewhere in the B+ range.

When I was young, I regurgitated funny movies ad nauseam. Dumb & Dumber, Ace Ventura, and anything else Jim Carrey was my schtick. I later learned that humor is one of the best ways to trigger memory—this is why most Super Bowl ads attempt humor. And mostly fail. Context shifting screws up my memory. If I move from meeting to meeting or check my phone incessantly, I retain almost nothing. Memory is a strange muse, and after listening to the podcast, it’s been on my mind this week.

How does your memory work?

Do you have tricks or habits to retain information?

Are you phonographic?