Do you have a mental "filing cabinet"?

[Gary Reese]

I've never actually been told I'm aspie, but the similarities are spot on.
Filing cabinet is as good of a description as any. Yes, highly developed. Highly visual. Memories to back when I was 4. Still images or movie as desired.
I like to make tools that make toys. I run simulations in my head to spot defects.
Just wish all of that crap would translate into money.
I make no secret of what I can do. People seem to enjoy the results.

Hey, not bad for a dyslexic old man. lol

 

[deema]

Everything with a brain has a mental filing cabinet. All knowledge, everything anyone knows, everything that any animal knows, is due specifically and only due to this aspect of the brain. The only way someone can say "here is A, and there is C, so B must be "right here", is because previous information gleaned was stored and filed in such a way that enables that connection to be made later, without any evidence of the "b" being necessary.

And yes, some aspies can tap into it better than most. I have a type of photographic memory and sometimes, due to my lack of sleep, I will begin to falter with it. After a good rest, all files reorganized and Im ready to go, again. Similarly, I had a great number of breakthroughs during the development of my software, after realizations that didnt fully unravel for me until I woke up the next day...

 

[MicroWeiss]

Not filing cabinets, I don't even enjoy my personal paperwork and stuff that I have to file and organize. I'm just not an organizer. I purposefully remember the minimum amount of info. For example, instead of remembering how to use a software I will just remember where the instruction manual is.

I kind of see it more like a store or a library. I'm good at finding things. I'll search a store several times over if I believe they might have a product I want, I will even look in places where someone might have misshelved it. I guess I enjoy searching for things, it's kind of like the joy of discovery over and over again, where if you have it all in a file cabinet it feels like work. I like organizer-types a lot though. If you enjoy organizing stuff it's awesome and I can see the value.

 

[deema]

Not filing cabinets, I don't even enjoy my personal paperwork and stuff that I have to file and organize. I'm just not an organizer. I purposefully remember the minimum amount of info. For example, instead of remembering how to use a software I will just remember where the instruction manual is.

I kind of see it more like a store or a library. I'm good at finding things. I'll search a store several times over if I believe they might have a product I want, I will even look in places where someone might have misshelved it. I guess I enjoy searching for things, it's kind of like the joy of discovery over and over again, where if you have it all in a file cabinet it feels like work. I like organizer-types a lot though. If you enjoy organizing stuff it's awesome and I can see the value.

Ah, yes. It is most certainly a filing cabinet. The only reason "you" know that the number 4 comes after 3 is because it is stored in your long term memory in away that allows the association of relative and relevant infortmation links that allow for "complex" thought. You do not have to "search" for how many days are in the month, "you" are able to rehearse the 30 days hath and such, to retrieve that information. Only possible because the brain has a directly "hotlinked" file with that information attached to the spot that is used to begin the recalling of it

 

[MicroWeiss]

Ah, yes. It is most certainly a filing cabinet. The only reason "you" know that the number 4 comes after 3 is because it is stored in your long term memory in away that allows the association of relative and relevant infortmation links that allow for "complex" thought. You do not have to "search" for how many days are in the month, "you" are able to rehearse the 30 days hath and such, to retrieve that information. Only possible because the brain has a directly "hotlinked" file with that information attached to the spot that is used to begin the recalling of it

I sometimes envision a huge manila folder that holds everything. The 3 after 4 thing is ehh.. I mean, there's only 10 numbers to remember, 0 thru 9, and then it's more a conceptual thing. As for how many days are in a month, I look at a calendar whenever I need to know. It is close to 30 days each month, I remember that much, but I still discover the exact number of days each month that I look at the calendar. Coincidentally, I am fond of calendars, since I rely on them more than others. Maybe my thoughts aren't that complex.

I seem to vaguely remember my mom rehearsing this scary complicated thing on how many days are in various months, it used to really freak me out.

 

[deema]

I sometimes envision a huge manila folder that holds everything. The 3 after 4 thing is ehh.. I mean, there's only 10 numbers to remember, 0 thru 9, and then it's more a conceptual thing. As for how many days are in a month, I look at a calendar whenever I need to know. It is close to 30 days each month, I remember that much, but I still discover the exact number of days each month that I look at the calendar. Coincidentally, I am fond of calendars, since I rely on them more than others. Maybe my thoughts aren't that complex.

I seem to vaguely remember my mom rehearsing this scary complicated thing on how many days are in various months, it used to really freak me out.

The 3 and 4 point is not "eh", it is specifically meant to point out that even such tiny things as that, HAVE to be stored in long term memory, aka the file system. Otherwise you would only ever have it in short term memory and could forget that simple logic equation(3 so therefore next is 4) at any time. EVERYTHING in your mind, if it is a memory or knowledge or anything, other than short term memory, can only at all period be explained if the file system is exactly what the brain does and is.....

 

[MicroWeiss]

I guess. But a file cabinet seems a bit overboard for numbers. This is a thread about how you visualize the storage, and I am not sure if you are saying you visually store individual numbers in a file cabinet. That is the main cause of my skepticism. Sure it exists, the image, everything can be visualized, but whether you actually would take the time to picture it in your mind as 0 thru 9 flash cards in a filing cabinet for the sake of retrieving that uber-basic information, is another thing.
Now that I think about it, I picture a normal manila folder. I said huge before, because I was thinking it might need to hold a lot of info, but it's just normal, not labeled. I picture myself pulling images from it. Mostly when I am trying to make comparisons when I see a new face, I take the features and apply labels (female, catholic, old, irish, kindly, crowsfeet, etc.), and might bring up other faces with their associated names and traits. This might be the only time I visualize the folder. The visual memory for most things is the same, just that it usually seems like the images are being pulled from the black expanses of my mind. I'm not sure I use the folder for anything other than human faces, features, traits. It does seem like the most complicated subject to me. I remember the idea of rifling through plain white folders when I was a kid, more of a file-cabinet setup, but I never remember any labels. And I think it was always images of people I was filing away. I still remember this old crosswalk guard from when I was in 3rd grade. I have pictures of him in there, crotchety old man with a thick mustache and glasses.

 

[deema]

I guess. But a file cabinet seems a bit overboard for numbers. This is a thread about how you visualize the storage, and I am not sure if you are saying you visually store individual numbers in a file cabinet. That is the main cause of my skepticism. Sure it exists, the image, everything can be visualized, but whether you actually would take the time to picture it in your mind as 0 thru 9 flash cards in a filing cabinet for the sake of retrieving that uber-basic information, is another thing.
Now that I think about it, I picture a normal manila folder. I said huge before, because I was thinking it might need to hold a lot of info, but it's just normal, not labeled. I picture myself pulling images from it. Mostly when I am trying to make comparisons when I see a new face, I take the features and apply labels (female, catholic, old, irish, kindly, crowsfeet, etc.), and might bring up other faces with their associated names and traits. This might be the only time I visualize the folder. The visual memory for most things is the same, just that it usually seems like the images are being pulled from the black expanses of my mind. I'm not sure I use the folder for anything other than human faces, features, traits. It does seem like the most complicated subject to me. I remember the idea of rifling through plain white folders when I was a kid, more of a file-cabinet setup, but I never remember any labels. And I think it was always images of people I was filing away. I still remember this old crosswalk guard from when I was in 3rd grade. I have pictures of him in there, crotchety old man with a thick mustache and glasses.

You are clearly visualizing another thread. Your view of it is no where near what he OP put, initially.. Does not go into conceptualization, at all. Just asks about "technical" details regarding it

 

[deema]

I guess. But a file cabinet seems a bit overboard for numbers. This is a thread about how you visualize the storage, and I am not sure if you are saying you visually store individual numbers in a file cabinet. That is the main cause of my skepticism. Sure it exists, the image, everything can be visualized, but whether you actually would take the time to picture it in your mind as 0 thru 9 flash cards in a filing cabinet for the sake of retrieving that uber-basic information, is another thing.
Now that I think about it, I picture a normal manila folder. I said huge before, because I was thinking it might need to hold a lot of info, but it's just normal, not labeled. I picture myself pulling images from it. Mostly when I am trying to make comparisons when I see a new face, I take the features and apply labels (female, catholic, old, irish, kindly, crowsfeet, etc.), and might bring up other faces with their associated names and traits. This might be the only time I visualize the folder. The visual memory for most things is the same, just that it usually seems like the images are being pulled from the black expanses of my mind. I'm not sure I use the folder for anything other than human faces, features, traits. It does seem like the most complicated subject to me. I remember the idea of rifling through plain white folders when I was a kid, more of a file-cabinet setup, but I never remember any labels. And I think it was always images of people I was filing away. I still remember this old crosswalk guard from when I was in 3rd grade. I have pictures of him in there, crotchety old man with a thick mustache and glasses.

And it doesnt matter the "number' aspect in the way you think. In fact, the entirety of the mind and all of reality is "number thing", simply a 1 or a zero. A yes or no. Life in the physical universe obeys this, cannot avoid it. Everything, everywhere, is a binary possibility. So the brain would file things on a much more basic level, than even the "3 is to four". It would break things down as far as it could. This is the basis for logic.