Cross Referencial Thinking

[FayetheADHDsquirrel]

Does anyone else relate strongly to making a lot of cross referencial associations (eg. someone offers you cotton candy but the fluffyness reminds you of some cumulous clouds you saw outside so instead of answering yes or no you blurt out something like "Those were some beautiful clouds this morning weren't they!" or you glance up at the ceiling and the texture reminds you of cottage cheese so you start commenting on how long it's been since you ate cottage cheese with potato chips or someone says "Oh no! The coffee mug has a chip on it!" and you instantly blurt out "Those really were some of the best barbeque chips ever weren't they?!" Then you have to backtrack the conversation and get the conversation straightened out.

 

[Outdated]

Although I don't usually blurt out irrelevant comments that's almost exactly how my memory works, and also why I'm able to remember so much more than most people.

All of my memories are tied in to each other so much that it's not really possible for me to forget things. I might struggle to recall a particular memory on demand but if given the right trigger that same memory will jump to the forefront of my mind unbidden.

(that sort of memory is different to trying to remember where I put my glasses down or trying to remember an appointment date)

 

[Jumpinbare]

Although I don't usually blurt out irrelevant comments that's almost exactly how my memory works, and also why I'm able to remember so much more than most people.

All of my memories are tied in to each other so much that it's not really possible for me to forget things. I might struggle to recall a particular memory on demand but if given the right trigger that same memory will jump to the forefront of my mind unbidden.

(that sort of memory is different to trying to remember where I put my glasses down or trying to remember an appointment date)

Wow, Outdated, you literally made all my points for me. I tell people I have a photographic memory, but that all the pictures are randomly tossed in a shoebox where I can't just pull out what I'm looking for but it's all in there. When there is a trigger, suddenly memories pop out in fresh detail.

When I was first doing my post diagnosis research to disprove said diagnosis, one of my objections was that I didn't have meltdowns. I honestly believed that, until a memory of my grandmother brought back a conversation with her when I was still young where she told me if I didn't get my angry outbursts under control I might have a stroke. That memory triggered memories of intense rage I had had back then which objectively looking back could only be considered meltdowns. Yesterday, I was listening to an old song that triggered memories of the time where I left a stable job due to extreme burnout. It was a shock, because when I read about burnout, I believed I had never had it, but the feelings the song trigggered brought the memory of that time back clearly.

In Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agecny, the main character touted "the fundamental interconnectedness of all things". I loved the expression, because that's how my memory has always worked.

 

[Shamar]

Does anyone else relate strongly to making a lot of cross referencial associations (eg. someone offers you cotton candy but the fluffyness reminds you of some cumulous clouds you saw outside so instead of answering yes or no you blurt out something like "Those were some beautiful clouds this morning weren't they!" or you glance up at the ceiling and the texture reminds you of cottage cheese so you start commenting on how long it's been since you ate cottage cheese with potato chips or someone says "Oh no! The coffee mug has a chip on it!" and you instantly blurt out "Those really were some of the best barbeque chips ever weren't they?!" Then you have to backtrack the conversation and get the conversation straightened out.

I do something like this all the time. Someone will say something that triggers an old memory that is unrelated but still relevant. Drives people crazy. Good, the more people like me, the better.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Does anyone else relate strongly to making a lot of cross referencial associations (eg. someone offers you cotton candy but the fluffyness reminds you of some cumulous clouds you saw outside so instead of answering yes or no you blurt out something like "Those were some beautiful clouds this morning weren't they!" or you glance up at the ceiling and the texture reminds you of cottage cheese so you start commenting on how long it's been since you ate cottage cheese with potato chips or someone says "Oh no! The coffee mug has a chip on it!" and you instantly blurt out "Those really were some of the best barbeque chips ever weren't they?!" Then you have to backtrack the conversation and get the conversation straightened out.

That is a beautiful mind at work... being able to make connections like that. I know, your examples seem to be a bit silly... but if applied in a scientific or artistic way, that creative process and thinking can be very useful.

 

[FayetheADHDsquirrel]

It can come in handy at times. For example, not being able to retrieve a can or jar from the top shelf at the grocery store so you take off and come skipping back excitedly with a curve topped walking cane, hook it around desired product, slide it forward and TAA- DAA!

 

[Outdated]

It can come in handy at times. For example, not being able to retrieve a can or jar from the top shelf at the grocery store....

My mother was really short - 5 foot nothing. When I was in my teens she used to take me shopping with her because I could reach things on the top shelf. One day I asked her what she was going to do after I leave home and she said "The same as I did when you were little." then started climbing the shelves.

 

[Masked Man]

I may think these things but I hardly ever say them because it tends to demonstrate to the other person that I wasn't listening. I have found that people don't like that.

 

[Tired]

That would make me think that you are slightly low intelligence. One thing is having connections in your mind (we all have that), another one is blurting them out and expecting another person to understand.

 

[Judge]

Do you consider this a voluntary process to cross-reference something which may or may not be related, or is it an involuntary process ?

I ask, wondering about the possibilities of how some of us may process a conversation or part of an exchange that we were not actually prepared for. Particularly if this amounts to an involuntary reaction. Which might also have roots in OCD.

That it might amount to our way of "filling a void" where otherwise our reaction might amount to being speechless, which can be that much more awkward.

 

[FayetheADHDsquirrel]

That would make me think that you are slightly low intelligence. One thing is having connections in your mind (we all have that), another one is blurting them out and expecting another person to understand.

I have 99th percentile vocabulary, come up with poems to describe some of my own photographs, and come up with my own original riddles. Some of my riddles require esoteric knowledge to find the answer. I have also given someone a gift before with a poem that had my name hidden within the wording and teased in a couple of the lines that if they looked closely they would find that it had indeed been signed.

 

[FayetheADHDsquirrel]

@Judge I think it is the hyperactive/impulsive traits of ADHD perhaps fueled by a hyperthymic leaning temperament. Part of it may be as simple as personality.

 

[Tired]

I have 99th percentile vocabulary, come up with poems to describe some of my own photographs, and come up with my own original riddles. Some of my riddles require esoteric knowledge to find the answer. I have also given someone a gift before with a poem that had my name hidden within the wording and teased in a couple of the lines that if they looked closely they would find that it had indeed been signed.

I know that you are smart, I am telling you how you may look in the eyes of the NT who doesn't know you.