Thanks, Seattle. It would have been useful if Write4U had given a similar summary in the first place.
I agree.
The interesting thing about memory is that the more points of reference you have, the better is your memory. That's why, in part, most people aren't as good in math as in communicating.
When we think about a memory from our past we have points of reference in sound, smell, emotions, and various other connections. When it comes to math, it's largely just rote memory or a few connections such as "is it a prime number" , "does it represent a meaningful relationship or pattern".
You could meet someone for the first time and chat with them for 60 seconds and a week later you would probably be able to describe their look, personality and other general impressions.
If a week ago I said does the number pattern 353599034432 mean anything to you? You would say "no" and when I asked you a week later to repeat the pattern you couldn't do it unless it was some kind of memory challenge that you spent hours on. That's because you don't have many reference points for those numbers.
There is a condition called Synthesia (I think) where a part of the brain is "wired" differently and they see numbers as colors, shapes, and other characteristics. They remember long number sequences quite easily as it's just a "movie" of shapes replaying in their mind.
For one person that I'm thinking of, they can't easily differentiate between human faces easily. Their brain is wired differently. They don't have our pattern recognition ability which we take for granted. To them, looking at friends is like us looking a a group of raccoons and trying to differentiate them.
I haven't seen the video linked to above but I have a feeling that it doesn't belong in pseudoscience. I may be wrong given the source, of course.