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Aspergers and memorization

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Ihaveaspergers

Active Member
Are you aspies good or bad a memorizing?
How has asperger's helped you with memorization? How has asperger's made memorization harder?
Personally, memorization is not something that I am good at. I think I suck at remembering texts or music. I really only memorize something if I understand it. Many people can memorize even if they have no understanding at all. I can't!
 
Ihaveaspergers said:
Are you aspies good or bad a memorizing?
How has asperpger's helped you with memorization? How has asperger's made memorization harder?
Personally, memorization is not something that I am good at. I think I suck at remembering texts or music. I really only memorize something if I understand it. Many people can memorize even if they have no understanding at all. I can't!
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All I have to do is read something one time and I'm good. This comes as a great help to me when working on or rebuilding engines. I don't think I would be as good at what I do to make a living as I am with ASD.
 
Ihaveaspergers said:
so how do you memorize?
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Hard to say, I just do? I generally only have to hear a melody once to remember it and be able to reproduce it. When reading texts I just have to make sure I understand what it says, then I'll be able to reproduce it too. It's not really a conscious effort.
 
It's a mixed bag. I struggle to *memorize* things (though part of that is that I just completely fail to see the point in committing to memory something that I can look up at any time). I never memorized the multiplication tables for instance, and outside of that one year in school when it was deemed *important*, it has never mattered once.

For the most part, my mind is a sieve, but if I'm on high alert or paying close attention (for whatever reason) I can remember conversations word for word right down to what color shirt someone was wearing while I had the conversation.

It makes me wonder if I can train myself to remember everything. I likely can. But do I *want* to? (Probably not, I already really struggle with overthinking and overanalyzing everything that happens, if I remember even more I'll probably have an even bigger problem.)
 
Short term memory is dire. I mean, I have to look at a word a lot and then, I copy and paste, because I cannot even remember.

Long term is good, but I would say, pretty avarage really, compared to some.
 
I am extremely good at memorizing things and do it for fun.

High school was a breeze because they didn't teach learning - you just had to memorize the answers and regurgitate them onto the test. In a history class, we had to read a chapter then deliver a 5-minute oral presentation on the chapter. At first, the teacher said we could have one 3x5 card with some notes, but when he saw how much the kids were cramming onto their cards, he said "You can have 5 words only". So, just to blow them out of the water, I memorized every single name, fact, number, and date in that chapter. I went first and recited everything. I saw one classmate just drop her jaw while I was reciting this. I was (and - sorry - still am) a bit of a show-off.

College was an eye-opener because I actually had to have an understanding of the material, not just memorize things.

I memorize stuff all the time, just for fun. I have hundreds of poems memorized just because I like them and want to have them with me wherever I go (I think reciting them is a soothing activity for me). I memorize scriptures, song lyrics, quotes, etc. - anything that I find interesting.

I've tried tracing it back to see when it started and I don't think it ever started - I think it's been my entire life. I memorized the words to The End of the World as We Know It, by R.E.M. this spring. I memorized Jabberwocky in college. I memorized the Greek alphabet in high school. I memorized The Cremation of Sam McGhee in 5th grade because we were all required to memorize a poem so I decided to do the longest one on the list. I memorized a song about the chicken and the egg in third grade. I saw Red Skelton perform live once at around age 10 and he started reciting a funny poem - I immediately went into "memorization mode" so I could have that poem, too. I memorized the names of all the numbers up to Decillion in first grade. All of this wasn't for any other reason than, "I like this. I'm keeping it."

A friend at work has commented that he's never met anyone else that enjoys memorizing things as much as I do.
 
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SDRSpark said:
It's a mixed bag. I struggle to *memorize* things (though part of that is that I just completely fail to see the point in committing to memory something that I can look up at any time). I never memorized the multiplication tables for instance, and outside of that one year in school when it was deemed *important*, it has never mattered once.
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I think you're right - interest plays a big part. I can memorize numbers and text all day long because it interests me, but I struggle to recognize the faces and remember the names of people I should know well.

I think there is an aptitude or talent aspect, too. My brain is formatted for text. I can recite passages of text I've read recently almost verbatim because I can see the text in my head. So memorization for me is just a matter of repetition. Apparently, to get that text ability, my brain gave up all visual ability. I could stare at your face for 5 minutes and if you asked me to close my eyes and tell you what color your hair is, I couldn't do it.
 
Ihaveaspergers said:
so how do you memorize?
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1. Repetition, repetition, and repetition. I read it over and over and over. That's mainly what I do.
2. Put a rhythm to it. If you are allowed to edit something to make it rhyme or have rhythm, it makes it lots easier to memorize. That's why Shakespeare's plays were written in rhyme - to make them easy to learn quickly.
3. Smells - If you expose yourself to a certain scent while memorizing something, that scent can often bring back the memory.
4. Associate it with something that interests you or will grab your memory. One memorization technique associates each thing you need to memorize with something outlandish in a story you make up as you go. Here's one extreme example: How to memorize a deck of cards.

Mostly, I just do #1. #4 actually wouldn't work for me, because it associates cards with movie stars and I am terrible with names and faces - but you have to find what works for you.
 
I'm not sure anyone can answer specifically if aspergers help or hinders their memorizing things. The only way to answer this correctly would be by going from ND to NT or from NT to ND and that's not possible.
I CAN answer that my memorizing things is terrible. For instance I've read and studied the Bible over and over and over. I know what it says but to this day could not tell you where to find this or that.
I can't remember names - one reason I don't like reading fiction - can't keep up with who's who. I can't remember dates - even while I was married I could never remember the date, month or year of my anniversary.
I DO remember events and can tell you where each person stood, what they were wearing and word for word what was said. (Like scenes in a movie).
In school, some tests were based on remembering lists and I found what helped me most would be to draw out a picture that would include everything on that list. But even that's limited. And trying to remember a quote from a book or part of the declaration of Independence or something like that - FOR GET IT!!! And I can't remember a list of numbers that involve more than about 5 or 6 digits. lol (Maybe 9 if I pair them in 3's).
And now, with age, it's getting worse. I still remember events, but even everyday words are getting harder to remember. lol
 
I am good at remembering some things but dreadful at others. For example if I spent the day together with someone new, I could remember most everything we did, where we went, what it looked like, for the short and long term... but might not remember their name, what day of the week it was or how old I am or who is president.
 
Tom said:
I am good at remembering some things but dreadful at others. For example if I spent the day together with someone new, I could remember most everything we did, where we went, what it looked like, for the short and long term... but might not remember their name, what day of the week it was or how old I am or who is president.
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LOL Same! I'll be like... "you're an engineer, you have two Labrador retrievers and a parrot, you worked at Boeing, took a backpacking trip across China, your favorite food is pizza and I have no idea what your name is."
 
I've always been good at memorising things. Unfortunately in decline now as I get older. At school, I used to prepare for exams by reading through my text books the day before the exam, and found that I could remember it and get good grades, but some others struggled with this. Good for learning foreign languages, too - I found it easy to memorise vocabulary lists.

I sometimes learn things just for fun too, like USA state capitals (I'm not in the US so this was never part of my education), or world capitals and flags.

One thing I'm NOT good at remembering, though, is faces.
 
Rae Ray said:
All I have to do is read something one time and I'm good. This comes as a great help to me when working on or rebuilding engines. I don't think I would be as good at what I do to make a living as I am with ASD.
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I agree. The ability to focus on the task at hand for extended amounts of time, really helps. You probably would not be able to do that without ASD.
 
I have a bad memory especially with topics I find boring. I did average in school and was too dumb for college. I am bad with names but good with remembering faces.

However things that really interest me I can remember like the lyrics to my favorite songs or things like TV station numbers.
 
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