Aspergers and memory

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I don't forget things to that extent, but I can relate to the part you said about forgetting stuff you're not interested in. At school I used to revise for exams for science and english, but immediately forget it all (then failed my exams) because it was all so boring that I just could not remember it. Maths is a different thing - although I'm hopeless at any maths (except probability). I don't store maths in my memory. It comes more from intuition, although I'm not very good at it so I can't really be sure where the little maths I do know is stored.

My memory seems similar to what the original poster said.

When I was younger I liked to learn stuff about sports (mostly baseball and basketball) such as names, stats, birth dates, heights, teams, colleges, etc. I like to sort my sports cards by things such as team, deck, height, etc. I would enjoy sorting and resorting them too.

I like to memorizes facts and lists, or make my own lists to try to memorize. I did this in an activity called quiz bowl.

I have a strong rote and autobiographical memory. It is better than my short term memory, and trying to memorize things like the words to a poem, or the lines to a play.

I still do this at times, but not quite to the extent I used to.

Acacia wrote: But remembering relevant, social information I am terrible at.

I write: It seems like the key word is 'relevant'. Like Jory wrote, I've forgotten my birthday before...have had to stop and think to remember my age more than once. It seems quite likely that 'absentmindedness' regarding what I find pretty much unimportant (birthdays) would extend to other people's birthdays (which they regard as highly important). Birthdays, to me, fall in the 'reminiscing' kind of memory process; a memory/recall process I'm not too interested in to begin with...maybe later, when I'm sitting in the rocking chair at the old-folks home.

Yet, I'll remember the most far-fetched detail from 1975 (guess I'm dating myself here... ) Aspie or not, memory recall can definitely be linked to strength of 'personal' association (even if the 'personal' association is considered more impersonal by, say, NT standards). Regardless, I still strongly believe that the general statement 'Aspies demonstrate better long-term' memory is true - and maybe not just about what any individual Aspie found relevant.

I have an accurate and detailed (though not with savant abilities) long term memory - when I look at old photos, I usually remember the event and surroundings in fairly good detail - sometimes by forming connections between objects in the photos and other memories, such as dating a photo based on a toy or piece of clothing and then connecting it to the event, such as a Christmas, during which I got that toy or piece of clothing. I remember in great detail include my fourth birthday (the gifts and card I got, where I was when I got the presents, etc.) and the Christmas of that same year

My family moved house when I was five, yet I remember everything about the old house, such as the type of carpet/flooring in each room and where every piece of furniture was, while my parents would not remember the exact layout of the house. Looking around the area in Google Earth, I can locate where I went to kindergarten and school and the route we took to get there, where my mother brought groceries, where family friends lived (and the layout of their houses), the McDonald's restaurants we went to, etc.

I was tested in 2009 and the result was that I had a better than average memory. I have noticed some differences, however, in how my memory works compared to many others I know.

For example, learning a route in order to go from one place to another: it seems that most people visualise the route the way they see it (1st person perspective) and I visualise it on a map.

If something has changed, like trees have been cut down or a new building built, others may get lost because the route does not look the way it used to look like. But I can still find the route on the "map" I visualise.

But if they have built a new street somewhere, then I get lost but others still see some other things that are familiar to them and they find the right route.

Yeah i just found out i have really good memory i can remember about when i was about 3 i ran over to alex place i can imagine how little i am when i escaped from our house in clifton and then i was about 8 year old i had obsession with maps and i know all the capital cities in world i still remember them

I have a photographic memory. It's great for remembering things about my special interests. What I don't like is that I'm more subject to having flashbacks than most people because I have such a strong memory.

I don't have a very good memory.

are you able to memorize things other than sports facts?
go to school and get a phd.

if you need to be interested in the topic to memorize facts, are you able to become interested in a topic that you can use on the job?

i wish i had good memory.