Memory

[saturn123]

I realized today that I have issues with short term memory. See, my memory is weird and unreliable. Sometimes, it is impeccable. I remember many instances of childhood memories (such as when I was in my diapers at 1 year old) and a lot of information in my biology class and math class. However, my memory sucks at other times like when we are playing name game (memorizing names of students in my class), memorizing a string of numbers and repeating them back, loosing and misplacing things, etc. Because of this, I get frustrated at times. Do you guys have similar problems?

 

[SusanLR]

Same here.
I can remember back to infancy also so clearly,
yet watch a tv show, read something, be told someone's name and misplacing things are very common.
Short term...what did I go to the fridge for?
Oh, yeh, for a bag of crisps! (which are in the cupboard.)

 

[Progster]

Yes, I have always been absent-minded and forgetful, but I think that this has been made worse due to hormonal changes and medication that I am on.

 

[Gracey]

I was far better when I had four others to look after and then myself.
Functioned at a different speed and developed ways to remember.

Now, it doesn’t seem as important to remember the smallest detail of what happens around me if what’s happening isn’t repetitive or meaningful in some way.

 

[Mary Anne]

I realized today that I have issues with short term memory. See, my memory is weird and unreliable. Sometimes, it is impeccable. I remember many instances of childhood memories (such as when I was in my diapers at 1 year old) and a lot of information in my biology class and math class. However, my memory sucks at other times like when we are playing name game (memorizing names of students in my class), memorizing a string of numbers and repeating them back, loosing and misplacing things, etc. Because of this, I get frustrated at times. Do you guys have similar problems?

I have always had memory problems. My childhood and teen years were extremely bad and I suffer from PTSD. Few memories of childhood, school, etc. I also was a raging alcohol at some portions of adulthood. I do have lots of great memories though of the happy times in my like. I never have been able to remember dates, or names. I still struggles with all that. It’s not getting any easier as I age!

 

[Lichi]

As I was growing up people would always tell me I had a strong memory. I could remember my infant years. The recent years I discovered that there simply are chunks of my memory that I don’t have anymore, while other unpleasant memories are coming up. My early teens are completely gone from my memory.

As I grew older my short term memory went really bad, because I couldn’t pay attention unless things were really interesting. Being forgetful is one thing. I can’t even remember people I met, food I ate, things I did. Sometimes I will pick the most random fact out of a conversation and remember that. I tell people my superpower is to remember the most useless fact you will tell me, and I will probably got through the introduction couple more times with you.

Ever since I fell in to anxiety as bad as I am in now and the no sleeping part my memory is far worse. Sometimes I forget things for a couple of minutes. One day I forgot who my sister was while talking to her face to face.

 

[AO1501]

I have very bad short-term memory. I can't remember things in the immediate past, as little as a minute or so, so if someone is spelling out a word or a number sequence, by the time they get to the 3rd or 4th, I can't remember the first one. If I see a document and turn around to face my computer, I can't remember anything about the document. I can't remember what has just been said during conversations, or what I was about to say. I can't remember what I was going to type when I'm writing emails or content such as this, so I have to keep going back to pick up the thread of what I might have been thinking.

But I have very good long-yerm memory. I can remember details from my childhood, including content of radio programmes that were playing, or the people around me, events as they happened, textures of objects I touched or came into contact with.

 

[clg114]

Getting old isn't so bad. I get to meet new people and go new places, every day! I told someone that just yesterday, but I can't remember who it was.

 

[Nervous Rex]

I cannot remember peoples' names, faces, or literally anything visual. I could stare at you for 5 minutes, then close my eyes and be completely unable to describe you. I have no visual memory at all.

I can remember anything that I put into print in my head. If I observe someone and think the words, "Bob has black hair, and wears glasses", then I will be able to repeat that back. But ask me afterward if I noticed whether Bob was wearing a hat, and I will be flummoxed.

I can remember anything in words for a long time. Song lyrics, lines of code I've written recently, passages out of books I've read. When I was in college, during tests I could close my eyes and see the pages of the textbook well enough to read off the information I needed. I still remember the PIN of a friend's debit card because we went to lunch 15 years ago and I ran his card through the drive-through ATM for him. Two days ago, my daughter showed me the book she was reading for a class assignment and I thumbed through it. A few hours later, she asked me how many pages she had left to read. I told her, but then asked, "Why ask me?" "Because I knew you'd know," she replied.

 

[clg114]

I cannot remember peoples' names, faces, or literally anything visual. I could stare at you for 5 minutes, then close my eyes and be completely unable to describe you. I have no visual memory at all.

I can remember anything that I put into print in my head. If I observe someone and think the words, "Bob has black hair, and wears glasses", then I will be able to repeat that back. But ask me afterward if I noticed whether Bob was wearing a hat, and I will be flummoxed.

I can remember anything in words for a long time. Song lyrics, lines of code I've written recently, passages out of books I've read. When I was in college, during tests I could close my eyes and see the pages of the textbook well enough to read off the information I needed. I still remember the PIN of a friend's debit card because we went to lunch 15 years ago and I ran his card through the drive-through ATM for him. Two days ago, my daughter showed me the book she was reading for a class assignment and I thumbed through it. A few hours later, she asked me how many pages she had left to read. I told her, but then asked, "Why ask me?" "Because I knew you'd know," she replied.

I am the other way around with faces. I always remember the face, but I can not remember their name or anything about them. It is embarrassing when someone greets you using your name and you have no idea who they are. I know that I should know them because I recognize the face, but I draw a blank when it comes to their identity.

 

[Mia]

I am the other way around with faces. I always remember the face, but I can not remember their name or anything about them.

Same clg, can recall most faces I've seen. But no names. Went to a store and the guy behind the counter seemed familiar. Realized eventually I'd seen his face four years before on an rcmp website. Sometimes I see faces that look very similar to other faces I've seen.

 

[Nervous Rex]

Went to a store and the guy behind the counter seemed familiar. Realized eventually I'd seen his face four years before on an rcmp website.

That's amazing.

You know those "what if" games people sometimes play... "What if you had the ability to [x], but you could never [Y] again?" ... I sometimes feel like I'm living that. Sometime in its early development, my brain played that game and decided that the trade-off was worth it.

 

[tducey]

Option 1. I have issues with some day to day things but ask me when a former co workers birthday from 20 yrs. ago was and I can tell you.

 

[pjcnet]

Yes and it can be infuriating when I forget where I've put things all the time. For instance I can search for something like a letter I really need, eventually I can find it after searching for ages and then I will swear I will never forget where I put it again, then I can turn around and not see it in my hand and I can't remember where it is yet again, it drives me crazy and I can't help it. It's also common for me to forget what people have just said, especially if there's a distraction and they often accuse me of not listening, but I also struggle to process voice in the first place and I often have to keep asking for people to repeat anyway, people get annoyed and say I should have my hearing checked, but it's an autistic processing problem, voice has to be slow for me to fully process sometimes, especially if there's other noise and people just don't understand this, obviously when I also forget what they've said too it angers some people and it's extremely unfair on myself. These are just two example and the problem has always been there, but it's got worse as I've got older, I'm now 48 years old. I'm fed up with people criticising me for all this even though it's part of my condition and it's difficult to live properly with the problem that put me in awkward situations, especially when people don't understand when I'm forced to apologise for losing stuff or forgetting things, sometimes I can even be penalised by having to pay for something again like for instance a car park pass when visitors want to visit me. I shouldn't be apologising and losing out when it's my condition. People should understand and recognise it as a disability. You don't criticise someone for struggling to reach something when they're in a wheelchair.

I understand short term memory issues are more common with people who are autistic, although most people don't realise or make allowances and this is being confirmed in the survey results so far too. Just in case there's any link here is a short summary of my autistic background. Experts thought I was on the low functioning end of the autistic spectrum as a young child which is all that was recognised when I was diagnosed in the 1970s because my speech and other development was extremely slow, also both my brothers are low functioning which took the interest of the highest experts in the UK at the time because back then they didn't believe that autism was genetic, but unlike both my brothers I started improving as I got older, although I kept numerous autistic traits. More recently I've been diagnosed with ASD and OCD, I also suffer with depression and anxiety, also a common co-morbid condition. Unfortunately I receive barely any help with anything due to cuts.

 

[musicalman]

I don't have memories of infancy or anything like that. The first thing i actually can remember is when I was 4, eating some apple sauce before preschool and asking my mom how old I was. I don't know why I did it. Then I asked my mom how old she was and she said 29, and I was like whoaoa 29, that's a lot!

I have earlier memories of playing with toy organs and keyboards and I can remember some of the chords and notes I liked. I cringe to think about them now though since I no longer like those sounds, but they have a peculiar place in my heart.

My memory must be doing fairly good tonight since I remember making a thread about my own memory qwirks that you are welcome to read if you want, though I imagine most of you already did. Still, just throwing it out there!

 

[OlLiE]

i learned not to force my memory, some people say that you remember everything you here, see, think... the difficulty is accessing those memories

so i avoid the stress of worrying about my memory, which blocks the retrieval process o its own,

i assume its in there somewhere, think about associated items, and then it pops into focus

 

[Adora]

I can remember stuff from years ago even stuff from when I was three but when it comes to my short term memory I’m horrible,I forget things at the grocery store which drives me crazy and I also sometimes don’t recognise the faces of people that I really should be able to recognise,my husband did complement me not long ago though and he was first person to ever say this about me,he said that I have a great thirst for knowledge which made me happy since my memory is better for things I’m interested in like my interests in mythological characters and also things like Tolkien’s world and fantasy in general,but my main struggles is remembering peoples faces,their names and also numbers but my memory is good when it comes to the names of Greek gods or stuff from Tolkien.

 

[Ezra]

Good example of how my memory works.

I'm gaming with someone and communicating through chat.

He tells me he just did a certain in game trick. I say that's cool I didn't know it worked that way. He says, you're the one who told me about it.

 

[Progster]

I have difficulty remembering faces, too.

 

[Iamnotarabot]

Good example of how my memory works.

I'm gaming with someone and communicating through chat.

He tells me he just did a certain in game trick. I say that's cool I didn't know it worked that way. He says, you're the one who told me about it.

I can relate to that so much ! It was even bigger when I was a teen i could forget things I have said to my friends few days ago etc and apparently it was important.


Anyway, at the moment, I know I have a good memory overall.Short term Long term what ever.


But, I guess we have 3 issues related to memory in our community , I make general assumption only from my own experience, feel free to tell me that i am completely wrong ^^' :


First : we don't learn the same way others do.


We have been told to learn a way that may not suits how we function , When i was a kid like before 12 , I learned multiplication not by understanding what it meant but i remembered the page with the tables. I did it also later for an exam when I was 15.
Also learned a lot of things by singing them. Printing a rythm in my head.

Later on I had good memory in class by doing nothing in particular except from remembering the class I had about the subject of the test. Like when I say remember it's realy in a vivid way.
Also used my memory to turn the pages of the book i read etc.
What I can understand is that most of the time I just dont simply remember the fact I want to use, I need something around it either visual or auditive.
So as our memory doesnt work like others, we may not learn how to train it properly, or force ourselves to learn in a way that doesnt work with us.


Second : Our anxiety can block our memory.

I think this is why we have harder time remembering names for instance, when we are in a social situation or another situation that causes anxiety, we may not remember it properly, for instance I know i dont remember the digit of my therapist because everytime i got there it stresses me out.


Third : All our issues mixed all together trigger a lack of self esteem , we dont trust ourself anymore, so we dont trust our own memory. Even when you have the answer it takes longer to say it or you will not say it because you think you might be wrong due to some past mistakes.(everybody make mistakes we should learn to accept it.)
And I dont even bring the part where we are depressed and ofc at this moment our memory isnt realy good anymore. But this is temporary.