processing things slower...

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I deliberately slow my processes down. Others I speed up the reaction. But that is not perfect, but enough to get by. Any sudden sounds and I will turn my head at speed in the exact direction without a change in reaction from my face. I do sometimes laugh when someone jumps right out of their skin.

I do have quick reactions in certain circumstances, I can usually have that part of the body react to it. Having a sandwich and my shoes on completely smooth, I slipped and where the average person would have let go of everything, I was still holding my sandwich and quickly regain my composure...

The issue with hearing someone and not understanding is what I believe to be a delay in translation where the brain doesn't expect audio conversation to take place. When it does, it's just a bunch of sounds. Then the person realises it's speech, therefore to seem polite, the person asks them to repeat their sentence/comment/whatever. By this time the original audio has been "translated" The rudeness coming in as both asking to repeat and realising what was said.
This happens to me frequently enough to do something about it. I wait longer to see if I can understand what was said. Usually works

Maggiedoll wrote:

I guess my mind was in one direction for the first sentence and in another direction for the second sentence. Sorry . What I was referring to regarding retaining information is the experience she has in having to ask the same question over and over. She doesn't remember that she just asked it. I guess processing speed is not necessarilly part of that but that was where my mind was going at the time. I have a few processing issues of my own.

I am slow to process certain things, mainly auditory and social stuff. When people say or explain things to me I usually have to think about it a while before I understand. Even though I hear the words it takes some time before I take in the information being exchanged (though if people really talk for too long I usually just don't take in the information at all). I find it annoying when I'm asked questions in classes or even social situations and people automatically assume I don't know if I don't immediately have an answer, because I usually can come up with one if I have a little time.

thanks for everybodies replies glad im not alone hehehe, can always count on ya fellow wpers ! I dont know what happens to the information, sometimes i dont process it at all, sometimes it doesnt happen to hours or even days later, sometimes i see it and thats all i see nothing else, no meaning behind it. This happens a lot for me, I see people, highways, cars, trucks, ppl standing in a circle chatting at a place, etc, but there is no meaning, nothing behind it, its like a picture to me, its almost like i see it moving but thats about it but yet if i see a street sweeper truck i get so excited because to me thats more real. This prob also explains why ill run or cross the street without having any thoughts of omoghs im going to get hit, to me i see me running, i see the street, i see my destination, i jus go, i prob wont even understand how or why i got hit, its weird. IDk is this related to cognitive, idk lol. Either way i understand what everybody is saying heheh, thanks!

I can be if its sudden and unexpected, other times I'm great at processing, even multi-tasking, but only if its part of my routine (like at work for instance). If my routine gets interrupted, then I'm slower than molasses. I just have to just stop and rethink everything. Its almost like having to reboot!

I do wonder though if it might be related to low blood sugar, I'm borderline hypoglycemic and when I start to feel it I know I need to refuel or I'll slow way down to the point of being near useless.

My mind is a slow cooker topic

This is the first time I have ever read this so well explained. Thanks.

I find that I have the same problem, and if people want to call me ret*d because of it, it's their problem, not mine because they're a bunch of Bloody immature pricks.

my family probably thinks i have a hearing problem because i say ''what?" a lot in conversations. it's just me processing what someone says.
yeah, i have to prepare myself when i open a door. i read the sign on the door a head of time and repeat "pull, pull." to myself.
also, i frequently need teachers to reexplain things to me as they probably said instructions too fast for me.

I cannot count how many times I've not responded to something and thought HOURS, sometimes DAYS later, "oh, I should have done this or that"... and if it happens again, I still don't do it and it strikes me again later that I should have.

It's like my mind is stuck on "loop", and I have all of this information going round and round-ways to react to things, how to respond, etc., but the second something happens the "pause" button gets hit, and I just stand there. Afterwards, it starts going again and nothing dawns on me until that little piece of info repeats on the "loop" of information in my mind. Does that make sense?

Thanks.....I aim to please

Does anyone else get really frustrated about it, because they feel like it hinders communication? Like the example I gave above, I left feeling really frustrated that I never got a chance to speak much. This seems to happen quite a bit to me.

I've also done the darting out in front of cars thing too. I would not be here now if a friend didn't have the quick wit to grab me back one time several years ago. I saw the car coming, but I didn't process what was happening quick enough to stop myself from crossing the street. It was really embarrassing, because she just couldn't figure out why I'd step out in front of a car like that.

My son does that quite a bit... once he ran in front of a car that was going through the neighborhood, ran across the street. The lady just sat there with her breaks on because she didn't know what he was going to do next. He ran up to her window (it was down), literally put his head into her car, and screamed "SORRY!"

It's scary though I have such lousy perception of how fast things are moving that I'm always scared to move if I can see anything coming. People behind me when I have one of those "left turn yield on green" lights absolutely must hate me. I hardly ever go until I actually have an arrow.

same. i have to ask what a lot. :/
and the teacher thing, too. i do not understand stuff in a class situation. everything's moving too fast. it seems for actual challenging subjects, i must have a private tutor.

^ This.

Sometimes I can make it work for me - I'll let everybody talk while I listen. Then I'll say "Let me make sure I understand this correctly..." and re-state the issues, before giving my input. I've gotten a reputation as a clear-thinker, who can break an issue down to the most important components - but really, it's a device I use to slow down the speed of the conversation while I process the information.

Other times, at more formal meetings - someone will make a presentation & then ask for questions. By the time I've processed all the information & formed a question, the meeting has been over for half an hour.

It's good that it works for you that way. I hardly ever say anything at meetings......I find butting in too difficult, the spaces they leave between their talking aren't big enough. My attention blanks out so often that I soon feel the need to go into "camouflage mode" where I try to become as unnoticeable as possible, just nodding along with what seems to be happening, hiding the fact that I'm completely lost. It can be better than that if I know the other people fairly well and have come to see them as relatively harmless. There are also some styles of charimanship & facilitating that seek to ensure nobody gets left out or left behind - e.g. they might structure things so that everybody gets a definite slot to say what they think about each issue. Personally I think all meetings should be run like that, but sadly most groups are happy to let individual members fall between the cracks, and to take their silence as approval for whatever is being decided.....more power for them I guess.

Actually I'm not convinced that it's entirely an Aspie thing. I read one analysis of self-managed groups which referred to a syndrome called "the bureaucrats and the bored" - in which some members seem to be au fait with the procedures while others can't seem to break into the thing and sit around feeling confused and useless while the "bureaucrats" just get on with it.

Wow! I thought I was the only one. I have a higher than average IQ but I'm still really slow and people probably think I'm stupid. Sometimes I hear something someone says and I pretend I didnt hear and ask them to repeat it to give me more time to think. I fully identify with group conversations I find it hard to keep up with what people are saying. I can only add something if the convo comes around to something I was ALREADY thinking about. I was given a dignosis of APD-Decoding Deficit last week but apparently it only affects my hearing of degraded speech and hearing in noise and not the processing of things I heard properly.

When I was younger I had a theory that AS was a problem with 'social reflexes' ONLY and things like problems with socialising were just a result of low self-confidence in the ability to react to a changing situation and it DOES explain the 'fear of change' issue many of us face. Obviously my theory was wrong, but for me it does tend to be the main issue since I think I read people ok and language is ok and I don't have sensory issues and most of the other things that are unrelated to the reflex problem.

Also remember that thinking of a response for longer than normal is a sign of an introvert so I don't think that's anything to be really ashamed of.

Here's another thought... If you have issues with paying attention you MAY have ADHD. There's a subcategory of ADHD called 'ADHD-PI' or 'Predominantly Inattentive'. It's basically ADHD with the 'H' part. It often goes undiagnosed because the person is quieter. Maybe some of you guys could look into it. Ya never know!