Published on 12, July, 2020
I've not Googlerated this so I'm starting from quite a low point of knowledge.
I know that we can tend to have very good memory in certain areas and I know about the autistic savant.
So, what do you know about how our memories work and why?
Mainly though, what is your memory like?
What do you remember and what do you not so well?
I have an autistic friend and he can quote back to me the day of the week, date and year a lot of events happened - small events, things like the day we went on a day trip somewhere over the whole of his life - he's 63.
I don't have that kind of gift but I have realised in recent times that my memory is quite unusual.
I do remember being in the pram and then the pushchair.
However, what I remember really well is places, events in my life and people and the things that people say, going back all 6 decades.
I can mentally walk through every room of the places I've lived in during my life and even where the furniture is.
How about you?
My memory is shocking in some areas, most days I can't remember what I had for breakfast and if someone gives me verbal instructions i have to write them down or have them repeated at every step.
I have difficulty in visualising especially people's faces although I'm more able to visualise a photo of them than from real life but I can remember tiny details of things from my past like the buttons a dress I had when I was 4 or the way Louise used to pick at the skin on her fingers in pre school can't picture her face tho), the smell of the shed where we kept out goat Rosie and the exact order my dad would mow the lawn in.
I can probably tell you what I've eaten at any given gathering or event, as long as I can remember the event but I couldn't tell you anything about the venue or who was there.
I seem to retain random general knowledge that I don't particularly want (although useful for quizes!) and if it's a subject I'm really in to I'll retain information but struggle to hold on to things I'm just not interested in.
Dates are a real issue, I can't remember birthdays or important things like the dates iof passing of family members and if I didn't have a cv I wouldn't be able to tell you where I've worked or when. I forget how old I am and have to work it out!
There is probably more but I'll leave it there for now.
shooting star said:if someone gives me verbal instructions i have to write them down or have them repeated at every step.
I believe that's very autistic.
I'm the same.
shooting star said:I have difficulty in visualising especially people's faces
Me too - this type of 'face blindness' can also be an autistic thing, I believe (but I'm not sure).
shooting star said:but I can remember tiny details of things from my past like the buttons a dress I had when I was 4 or the way Louise used to pick at the skin on her fingers in pre school can't picture her face tho), the smell of the shed where we kept out goat Rosie and the exact order my dad would mow the lawn in.
Yep. Absolutely! Just like me (although not those actual memories)
shooting star said:Dates are a real issue
Me too.
Interesting.