I Can Still Remember...

I wonder if this applies to anyone else:

I've always known, and yet just recently realized that my memory is, for the most part, spatially oriented. This means that I can remember certain details, certain conversations, based on my physical location at the time the conversation or event occurred. I can also recall facts based on their physical location on a page.

As far as I can remember, I've always done this. When we would have tests in school, I'd be able to remember answers to the questions based on where physically the answer or topic was in my notes or in the textbook. Was it on the back of the page at the top? Was there a doodle on the page? Maybe it was on the front of a page, but somewhere in the middle. Or if it was in a textbook, was there a picture on the page, and how did the text wrap around it? If I could remember the layout of the text, then chances were I could remember the answer, or at least remember enough information to make an educated guess.

I didn't think this was a photographic memory, but is it?

It's not just with academic stuff. I once wanted to test my new memory theory, an idea I had while studying for the AP European History test my senior year of high school. I was thinking about it as I walked into the kitchen to get a drink. I decided to try something. I opened the refrigerator door and thought to myself, "I will remember this moment for the rest of my life." And so far I have. It's an utterly meaningless moment, and yet I willed myself to remember it.

This kind of applies to my skill at memory games like "I'm going on a picnic and I'm bringing..." type games. I once played a version of this game with my friend Mary Ann (about a year ago) and I still remember that "crotchless panties" were mentioned near the gas station across from my favorite record store. A pack of batteries was listed at a traffic light, and a certain friend's crooked tooth was mentioned near, if not in, MA's neighborhood.

There's a spot at the start of an on-ramp for the Garden State Pkwy in Jersey on the way to the airport that reminds me of a conversation I had in which I mentioned "High and Dry" by Radiohead. A little further down the Pkwy in the same direction is a sign that will cue me to say "monkey" as I said it now would upon revealing my skill to my friend TJ who was driving the car.

Whenever I mention this ability to someone, they seem pretty amazed by it. Am I the only one who can do this? Or just the only who does it consciously?