General vs Memory Intelligence

What are the differences between, and advantages of, general intelligence vs memory intelligence?

Within the concept of intelligence, there may be many sub-categories, but to focus on the function of intelligence, I’ll divide it into 2 basic sub-categories. 1st of all, for a simple definition of intelligence overall, which I’m referring to, I’ll use the meaning; ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. In my last post; Intelligence; Inherent or Integrated, I questioned the causes and effects of development of intelligence. But what are the different types of intelligence, and how do they compare in function and applicability? I further explored the function and effects of intelligence overall, in a post from almost 2 yrs ago; Intelligence Inversion. I considered that the function of intelligence, seems to boil down to basically, the effective ability to access relevant memories. 

1 sub-category of function of accessing relevant memories, could be considered general intelligence (GI for short). GI has a significant ability to understand circumstances involving new factors or variables. With the ability to adapt to new situations, this allows it to be utilized in more “General” circumstances. I further explained my interpretation of GI, in another post from nearly 2 yrs ago; Generalised Intelligence. Basically, GI involves accessing memories of concepts previously learned, and the effects of interactions of the factors. The unique significance of this ability, requires comprehending the relevant effects (from knowledge or past experiences) caused by the factors involved in a situation, to allow hypothetical application of those same causes and effects, toward a new situation. The difficulty and complexity of this function of memory access, comes from the ability to remember and effectively comprehend the specific causes and effects which are important and relevant to the new circumstances. 

The 1st basic component of this ability, would be conscious comprehension, in the process of accessing memory of the interaction of factors in any given circumstances, and the effects caused by the interaction (as I further explain in a summary post, also from around the time of the last 2 post references; Conscious Comprehension). The 2nd component of the ability of GI, would be the continued use of that component, but in a more generalized process. Carrying the concept (as further explained in post from 1.5 yrs ago; Carry the Concept) of understood cause and effect, from 1 set of circumstances to the new set of circumstances, is the aspect of applying intelligence, “Generally”. It requires analysing accurately, which factors (from concepts saved in memory), are relevant and applicable to the new circumstances. 

The other sub-category of intelligence, would be memory intelligence (as I’m calling it) (MI, for short). This usually requires the same 1st component as GI, being conscious comprehension. Perhaps MI doesnt fundamentally require conscious comprehension, since memories can be saved subconsciously or artificially (if a computer), but for the sake of this comparison, I’m focusing on MI used by people in typical human life situations. Typically people will use conscious comprehension to learn and save in memory, any given data, throughout life, but with MI, the 2nd component being the ability to carry the concept to general new circumstances, is not required or utilized. Someone with advanced MI can learn a lot of concepts and or specific details and data, and can recall the data in memory, very effectively. In modern day life, MI can be a fairly effective method of intelligence function, to advance through life, since a lot of information (including relevant factors and concepts) is shared and learned through technology and interconnected society. 

The function of MI seems it would utilize more distinct routes of neural pathways to access memories more accurately. With ease of access to neurons which represent memories, this should cause accurate memory access of any factors (details of data), or concepts, when new circumstances involving the same factors or concepts arise. GI would have more of an advantage in new circumstances which involve factors (and combinations of factors) that have not been previously learned. Neural pathways for someone with higher GI might have less distinct routes to memories. Cause or correlation between GI and and less accurate memories, may be another question. But considering the function of GI, is to make new connections of neural pathways, between new factor combinations and previously saved data of factor combinations, it seems likely that neural routes have a lower degree of ease of access to saved memories. MI would quickly and easily access memories of the closest resembling factors, while skipping the step of analysing which factors and interactions are most effectively applicable to the new set of factors and interactions (which would be the uniqueness of GI). 

It seems MI would be more accurate in accessing memories relevant to circumstances involving a lot of factors and interactions which are nearly the same as what is already saved in memory. Whereas, GI would be more accurate in accessing memories of concepts, in which to virtually carry the relevant causes and effects, to apply to the new circumstances, in situations involving new factors or combinations, which are not saved in memory. The 2 categories of functions seem to have their own advantages, depending on the relative environment, when comparing the function of; General, vs Memory Intelligence.