memory

[delme]

Are there any unusual connections between Aspies and memory?

I am self-diagnosed as *not* having Aspergers -I could be wrong-. My memory seems to work differently from other people, and since I clearly share some similarities with Aspergers I wondered if my situation struck a chord with anybody:

My memory is non-chronological; I only find a sequence in memories by finding a connection with something that I can tie to an event with a known date. I have a poor memory, although often the information seems to be there, the problem is recalling it. I don't think I have many early memories, if at all, and occasionally I am completely missing mundane things from a day or two ago. I function perfectly well, with a little help from a diary/calendar, people don't seem to notice (although close friends have commented). I have developed systems for not losing things. I have watched films, and only recognised 10 minutes before the end that I have seen it before. I have never read a book more than once. I can't remember what I was like when I was younger. I remember stories, but have to make up the details (including about myself). I don't dream much, and when I do it tends to be abstract, not at all like a movie. My wife marvels at how shared experiences can be a complete blank for me, or just a vague sensation of a memory. Although most of my memories are blurred, when I do remember something clearly (usually something very specific), then I can be absolutely certain about it. My memory is not a cause of distress to me -except when I let people (or myself) down-, in fact I quite like it the way it is. My mind feels uncluttered, and lack of knowledge allows original thought.

 

[pacman]

I don't know if my memory is tied to me having aspergers, but I can remember faces and locations pretty well. In fact, if I think someone looks familiar, it's because I've probably seen them before somewhere. Sometimes I get my events mixed up, but I remember the visuals. I can also remember long numbers/weird strings well, which I guess is good for my job.

 

[Neat Hedgehog]

My memory seems to function in the exact opposite way, for the most part.

Dates are a complete mess, and generally only remembered if needed for something (filling out forms, etc). My memory for faces and names is similarly bad, as it can be quite hard to recognize people if I do not have contact with them regularly. This applies to names of towns, roads, almost everything. As a result I can be rather terrible with directions, but after I travel somewhere once I can easily reverse the directions I took to get there and make the same trip any number of times flawlessly afterward long after I have forgotten the name of every road I am traveling on.

An interesting contrast, then, that I can correctly name books by hearing one or two lines of dialog, and recognize nearly all movies and TV shows I have seen in less than a second. But, true to form, I will not be able to name the characters in the movie, or any of the locations unless I have seen it roughly three dozen times. ...which I have done before. I once memorized the complete English dialogue for "Kiki's Delivery Service" and could recite any part of it at a moment's notice.

 

[delme]

I am terrible with recognising faces I have only seen a few times, but I think that's because when I was growing up I was very short-sighted and didn't like wearing glasses; I had some really bad experiences where I mis-recognised people and so have a fear of initiating an interaction if I am not sure. I am quite good at recognising people from the clothes they wear or the way they move.

 

[buckyboy14]

I also cannot recognize faces. I still have to ask who some people in my grade are, which leads them to lie to me. I do have an excellent memory when it comes to things I'm interested in, however. If I've seen a word once, I know how to spell it, and I've memorized many things geographically, like the capital of every country.

 

[Mellotron]

My memory works best with numbers. I can remember dates, dollar amounts, ages, all of that stuff pretty well. I remember birthdays of people from elementary school that I barely even knew and I can't seem to flush that out of my memory banks haha. At my last job people referred to me as a memory bank for numbers they couldn't remember and account codes they didn't feel like looking up. As for names and words, my memory doesn't work as well with those. I meet a person, they tell me their name and a minute later I've already forgotten it.

 

[LostInSilentHill]

My memory works best with numbers. I can remember dates, dollar amounts, ages, all of that stuff pretty well. I remember birthdays of people from elementary school that I barely even knew and I can't seem to flush that out of my memory banks haha. At my last job people referred to me as a memory bank for numbers they couldn't remember and account codes they didn't feel like looking up. As for names and words, my memory doesn't work as well with those. I meet a person, they tell me their name and a minute later I've already forgotten it.

Lol, yeah that's me as well. I always have people come up to me and say hi like they no me but I have no idea who they are. I never can get names either, even when I have heard them a hundred times. Also, I would probably be the best person to mug as I never remember a persons face or any details like that. I would only remember their clothes and any flaws in them (like tears, stains, etc).

 

[Astroganga]

Yep some kids tried to mug a friend and I once. I say tried to as I stupidly thought it a good idea to fight them back as it all seemed so unjust. Luckily some body builder types who looked like they were on steroids were passing and intervened, it isn't really funny but I still laugh at the memory of these guys having to take off their shoes and whack these little thugs with them to get them off themselves as they really did not take kindly to being interrupted mugging someone and were clinging on to the men (who were much, much bigger than them) like little dogs. Moss Side is well deserving of its reputation. Anyway I could not remember the mugger's faces at all and when the friend who was my co-victim pointed them out when we saw them on the street another time and said they were the muggers I had to just take her word for it.