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Madmomma
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22 May 2011, 11:22 pm

Does anyone else get visually distracted by patterns? I tend to trace things with my eyes or sometimes copy a pattern or shape with my feet. Eyes are probably the most common thing, I will follow the lines and count how many curves in my head. Most eyes have 6. Most things like TV's, computers, windows etc I count sides subconsiously over and over. I'm even doing it to my thumbnail as I type. Am I mad?
Actually now that I'm thinking of it I tap rhythms as well all the time. I often use my teeth/jaw to clench the rhythms. I subconsiously try to work out what the timing of a song is. ie 2/2 4/4 I am mad...........lol



RaquiGirl
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22 May 2011, 11:57 pm

I don't do this, but I'm not a math/music aspie... I'm a verbal logic/numbers/lists aspie. I obsess on lists, number strings, and words, specifically semantics, linguistics and etymology, but also grammar and spelling. I wouldn't be at all surprised if other math/music/pattern aspies did this, so don't worry too much. :D


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PokeyLaLa
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23 May 2011, 3:32 am

i do that! i may spend an hour in the bathroom because i find the bathroom tiles so distracting. i love patterns, especially groups of squares, triangles, and lines. i never noticed patterns in peoples eyes however, what do you mean most eyes have 6? i listen for rhythm when i chew, i also cant stand clocks that tick, if there is a ticking clock in the house i cannot sleep because it is so distracting. i hate visiting my grandmothers house because i can't sleep there but i cannot say it is because of the clock because my parents have bad hearing and they say that the clock is silent. i especially love when there are rectangle rugs in tiled bathrooms

it is also really annoying me that this is my 4th post and it is blue while the first 3 were green. i will have to fight myself not to delete it. i really love green.



SirLogiC
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23 May 2011, 4:20 am

I uh follow patterns when I walk. Any contrast that can form patterns. Like different coloured bricks, lines in concrete, shadowed areas, steps, different types of tiles. I have a compulsion (not too strong) to step on such patterns evenly, and never to step on the boundaries of the pattern.

Patterns of bricks where the colour alternates every brick, or patterns that require a step too short or too long to be a comfortable step really annoy me. When it's like that I just try not to look down and pretend I'm not standing on the edges :/

If I am distracted by thought though I will be oblivious to this :D



lasirena
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23 May 2011, 5:36 am

I've described it as visually stimming. I can remember conversations I've had by the patterns I was looking at while I was talking. For example I remember my mom telling me about my half-brother she's never really talked about, and I remember how the palm leaves made a pattern of lines outside the window.
I don't count things though, just get lost in the intricacies and minute details. . .
Read a book recently that sounded much like what you are describing- called A Life Interupped[u] about a boy growing up with Touerettes (spelling? sorry) Syndrome, very interesting to read.



TallyMan
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23 May 2011, 6:01 am

Yes, I trace patterns all day long and usually count the sides of the patterns as I do so - hence my username 'TallyMan' - I'm always counting. Most of the time I don't notice I'm doing it until the counts hit the hundreds then I sometimes become conscious of them. Sometimes I tap out the patterns using my teeth, sometimes with my fingertips, sometimes just in my mind. The most common is to count the segments in travelling from one hand to the other: Hand & forearm = 1, upper arm = 2, chest = 3, other upper arm = 4, other forearm & hand = 5, the I repeat going in the opposite directions, repeating this hundreds of times a day!

Similarly tiles and patterns on carpets etc. The one I used to do most as a passenger in a car as a kid was bounce an imaginary laser beam off the edge of the pavement (sidewalk) and bounce it back to the other side of the road but always keeping the same angle of reflection and counting how many bounces the laser beam would make before being lost at a junction or someone's drive. Just call me weird. :lol:

Edit: I've just noticed/remembered another one while rereading this post after sending it - I create imaginary geometrical patterns on the screen by moving the mouse pointer around, typically diamond shapes or various other symmetrical polygons.


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Verdandi
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23 May 2011, 6:08 am

SirLogiC wrote:
I uh follow patterns when I walk. Any contrast that can form patterns. Like different coloured bricks, lines in concrete, shadowed areas, steps, different types of tiles. I have a compulsion (not too strong) to step on such patterns evenly, and never to step on the boundaries of the pattern.

Patterns of bricks where the colour alternates every brick, or patterns that require a step too short or too long to be a comfortable step really annoy me. When it's like that I just try not to look down and pretend I'm not standing on the edges :/

If I am distracted by thought though I will be oblivious to this :D


I tend to walk like this when there are visible patterns on the ground or floor. I did it far more often as a child, and I also had the annoyance with the patterns that don't quite match my comfortable stride. I tend to dislike stepping on lines, especially, but not for any particular reason, it just feels wrong.



alexi
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23 May 2011, 7:00 am

I trace patterns with my eyes all the time. I remember doing this as a child. I only wondered a couple of days ago if most people don't do this.



Radiofixr
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23 May 2011, 9:43 am

I do get mesmerized by patterns in things and zone out staring at them. A laundromat is a stereotypical place for me as I like to watch the dryers go around.


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flyingdutchman
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23 May 2011, 7:29 pm

I do that too!! So strange to see there are people with almost identical habits. In the past I talked a bit about that with my therapist. She did not mention anything like OCD, she never used any lables at all. She asked me to describe it a bit. What I do is that I have to follow certain geometical shapes I have in my had, and then need to see them in my surroundings and then start following them with my eyes. Or I have to move my hands/feet or legs in certain patterns that matches those shapes. Then I have to repeat it untill I feel like it is "done correctly", and then finally I can let it rest. Sometimes it can make me very tired.
I also have/had other OCD issues, mostly related to intrusive thoughts.