Do Aspergers have good memories?

Post Reply New Topic

Mom yelling at me one time to put down the receiver of the telephone (a typical black rotary dial landline phone of the late twentieth century- with a receiver much too big for my infant face). That and vague memories of playing tag with other kids on the grass between the apartment buildings we lived at, are my earliest memories.

Thank you for your answers but I don’t necessarily mean first memories, I mean memories for your interests and for facts, language and history if they are your interest for example.

Within my hobbies I have a good memory. I can still remember the address details of a model railway shop which I used to order as a teenager and it has relocated two times since then. I have no idea what the current address is.

But with subjects I can't latch onto my memory an issue. I can't retain information for long? It is like the difference between holding water in a bowl (Which would be my hobbies or things that interest me) and holding water in a sieve.

I became bilingual within less than a year of studying the Italian language at university. My teachers couldn’t believe it. But it was just like a pattern clicked in my brain. I had exception recall for rules and conjugations and accent imitation.

(I’d had linguistic input up until about the age of 5 but no actual language memory)… is this more what you mean?

This is the kind of things I mean. Correct.

Not just language though, memory of learning rather than what memories of childhood.

OK, I'll try to be more on the intended target...

I have some interest in movies and television shows. Only a select few, not all. But when my bride and I are watching things I will volunteer odd bits of trivia...which I would not have been able to retrieve without a visual cue of some kind.

I became interested in computers in 1971 and still think they are fun (but not to be trusted). I did well in Computer Science classes. Working with computers, however, I did not remember facts, rather I remembered concepts. For instance: The old IBM System 370 mainframes had an extensive set of machine instructions. A classmate of mine could recite a page or more of text from the manual regarding a specific machine instruction...but had no clue how to use it--on the other hand, I couldn't remember the first three words from the manual but I knew how to use the machine instruction.

I think a lot of my memories are triggered by other things, like sensory cues. I find it hard to retrieve info from my mind if it's not triggered by something else. I can't even properly info-dump about my interests unless that little lightbulb goes off in my head from something, and more little lightbulbs go off from what I'm talking about, which is what allows me to go on a tangent. lol

Long-term memory (decades previous) is phenomenal - despite the subtle numbing normal in middle-age.

What is a savant memory and how do I get one.

If you don’t have a savant memory now, you will never get one. This is something one is usually born with.

I don’t have a savant memory—and I’m okay with that.

I live in the moment and think of my memory as being generally awful but folks at work appreciate me for remembering "the arcane". When doing a puzzle I can't say where a particular piece is, but too often for chance I reach over amongst 1,000 of pieces and grab the exact one. An Aspie coworker asked me if I had a photographic memory and I said "no", but then I can fairly easily find a passage (that interested me) in a book (I know about where it is in the book and where it is on the page) --- not consciously. In life, I have vivid memories related to sensory and emotional situations; very few social memories (which offends my dad).

When I read the subject, I interpreted it as "good memories" as opposed to "bad memories". My mom is ASD-like and has mostly bad memories from her childhood, while her NT-like younger sister has all these good memories. I am ASD and have mostly bad memories from my childhood, while my NT younger sister has all these good memories. Just us?

My first memory is seeing my father react to the news on television about the death of Albert Einstein. That was 1955, I was 2 years old. Hey, does that mean I'm a contemporary of Albert Einstein?

I relate to this! My sister (NT) has all the good memories and I hold all the bad ones… we have often been in dispute about the past about what actually happened but I’m older and more stubborn so claim truth without waiver .

I do also have a photographic memory, and even more so if I’m actively studying. In my household I’m know as the ‘you know where everything is’ person. If something is lost or packed away I can visually recollect packing it or have a picture of a room in my mind to find the object. Very useful skill!

My memory is good when it comes to things I'm really into. So lifelong obsessions.

Otherwise it's pretty poor, though. I'm not very organised.

By far the worst aspect is emotional memories. I really struggle to remember specific events involving other people, like birthdays, weddings, christmases, holidays and other shared events. I'd actually say that's one of the biggest single factors in my autism. I experience things, then it's as though I automatically block them out.

I have more "good" memories of infancy and toddlerhood, and then beyond that I have more "bad" memories. I think the "bad" ones are because "bad" emotions hit me more intensely and they are probably just more memorable due to that. As a infant/toddler I was mainly chilling in my "own world" so there wasn't a lot of "bad" to focus on. lmao

I also have a somewhat photographic memory, I guess. I can find things the same way you can, it seems I sort of take a mental snapshot of where I'm putting things and I can find them very easily in the same exact spot due to that.

My worst memories were of my toddlerhood and preschool lives.