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Memory

jimited

jimited

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
How many of you that are on the spectrum have memory issues?
I ask because my short term memory is awful, I find verbal instructions hard to follow, I find it hard to recall conversations, any television programs I watch no matter how interested I am with it, I find it impossible to talk about the program or quote it as I cant explain what has happened and cant remember any verbal details, even music, I obsessively listen to music all the time and I still do not know many of the words to any song (except Queens Bohemian Rhapsody). Its almost as if anything verbal goes into my head and just does not stay there.
Is this a common thing amongst people on the spectrum?
 
I definitely have memory problems, but not to the level you describe. Enough that people in my family complain and make fun of me.
 
Perhaps you have an auditory processing disorder, rather than a memory problem. Do you have any difficulty remembering what you have read?

I have an APD. I use a digital recorder in meetings so I can type up minutes afterwards. When I was at high school and at university, I took notes in class and that night at home I rewrote them in order to learn because I couldn't remember what was said in class. Sometimes I would find a single sentence in my notes that did not make sense at all (it wasn't even English a lot of the time) or was totally illegible. At the time I commented that it must have been a microsleep and I started drinking coca cola and eating mars bars before lectures to help me stay awake. Many years later I realised it was APD.
 
APD makes quite a lot of sense, I have just done some research on it and it seems to fit tho the words I hear do not get jumbled up they just seem to disappear. I find reading better as I can re-read what ever it is over and over until I understand what is being said. My long term memory is pretty good as I can remember make, model and colour of cars that various family members have owned when I was little and other random and pointless things.
 
jimited said:
APD makes quite a lot of sense, I have just done some research on it and it seems to fit tho the words I hear do not get jumbled up they just seem to disappear. I find reading better as I can re-read what ever it is over and over until I understand what is being said. My long term memory is pretty good as I can remember make, model and colour of cars that various family members have owned when I was little and other random and pointless things.
Click to expand...

It's the same for me too.
 
Depends on my priorities & interests: I can recall some things in meticulous details but anything my brain deems irrelevant gets discarded. Others in NT land may find such info to be important but if it isn't so to me, out it goes!
 
My memory also works in mysterious ways. I don't remember names very well, but I rarely forget a face. Dialogue of TV shows and movies are difficult to remember unless I've watched them many times before. There are times I can recall visual details of certain places I've been, even remembering what total strangers around me were wearing and/or doing. It almost feels as if I can put myself right back into a moment in time like I was really there in person.
 
nonsensical said:
I don't remember names very well, but I rarely forget a face.
Click to expand...

It's the same for me too. I readily forget names of people that I have known and seen on a regular basis for years. But I'll see a face that I haven't seen in 10+ years and recognise it. Then my mind will work overtime until I can remember the person's name. I've also seen photos on Facebook of friends of friends, and recognised that person as someone I see at work, or in a local shopping centre, etc, without ever knowing their name.
 
I'm terrible with names too, sometimes I get faces mixed up especially if they have the same haircut. It took two years to get to know everyone's name on my college course but now I've left I'm not sure I could tell you their names and I only left in June lol.
 
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