Poor Short Term Memory vs Sensory Overload

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Okay All, here's another…

Recently I've been pondering over my short-term memory difficulties (very short term such as when I'm talking, get briefly distracted, and then forget what I was talking about) thinking it's because I'm getting old (which I'm sure has something to do with it) until I started thinking more about it.

If you've ever been told that you have short term memory problems or you have the above type problem *regularly* (very regularly, not the typical person that it might happen just here and there), what if instead it's related to sensory overload?

When I'm on the phone I close my eyes. If I open them, I'm immediately distracted from my talking, and I forget what I was talking about. Or someone interrupts me and there again it's gone. Etc.

What if the problem isn't that we have a short term memory problem so much as an "interruption problem" (whatever sensory it might be - something you hear, something you see, something you smell, something someone says to you, etc.) that knocks right out of our mind what was there a second ago?

Since we already have sensory overload troubles sometimes, doesn't it make sense that when we're concentrating on one sense such as talking that we can forget what we're talking about should something suddenly happen that involves another sense (such as when I open my eyes when talking on the phone and I see something/anything [after seeing nothing other than the insides of my eyelids])?

I know that's why I can't take legible notes. I can't take notes when I'm listening to someone talk. I end up with chicken scratch and no memory of what was said. I can't watch a video and learn from it because again I can't listen and write notes, so again I end up with chicken scratch and no memory of the various points discussed.

So anyhow, just curious as to what others think… ?

Have a great night!

Hello!

Yes, I have a poor short-term-memory too, or maybe more preciese a poor working memory (= very short term memory), since as long as I can remember (my whole life). It is important to realize that working memory is very much related to concentration. So you might be a comorbid case of have both autism as well as ADD, just like me. Maybe we are somewhere on the overlapping section of the two conditions.

Concentration of auties&NOSies and ADHD-people might be improved by stimuli. The difference is that ADHD-people need outside stimuli while auties&NOSies (and ADD-people) need inside stimuli. As you have said, outside stimuli in ASD can quickly be overwhelming and cause a sensory or emotional overload.

Just my thoughts about the topic.

Hi Muziek!

Yep, I'm diagnosed with both.

I'm curious… What is "inside stimuli"? I'm sure it's something I should know right off the bat but I don't…

Thank you!!
Diane

lol you know what's funny… That we're talking about short-term memory problems and yet we can remember having the short-term memory issues all of our life…

These descriptions seem like poor working memory and EF problems.

Autism spectrum disorders are caused by neurological processing problems, so yes poor short-term memory can be caused by even minor sensory overload. I can open any door, drawer, or cupboard, or enter a room, and by the time I have completed the move, I have forgotten why I am doing it. It's called refrigerator door amnesia. By the time the light comes on, you can't remember what you were going to get out of the fridge.

I was just reading an article about memory recall. The basic idea was that the struggle to recall memory may in itself displace other memories. I wonder if sensory overload for someone on the spectrum could have a similar effect?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 135141.htm

I notice as I get older my short-term memory seems to worsen. Not that I ever had a great memory, but still.

That's how it works for me. I feel as though I'm constantly mentally juggling, an overwhelming variety of incoming sensory impressions and my own thoughts, and any interjection can bring all that precarious focus crashing to a halt.

I know people sometimes think I'm rude for interrupting them during a conversation, but if I have a thought that I think is relevant, I have to spit it out immediately, because if I wait for a break in their monologue, I'll completely forget what I was going to say. Until they're gone, of course.

Thank you for starting this thread.

I'm not sure, but this is likely the first time I've heard memory problems associated with being on the spectrum.

It's a very, very familiar thing to me.

That happens to me sometimes - not often, but sometimes.

My short-term memory is pretty poor--and it's getting worse.

Sometimes, I might even forget why I went into the fridge LOL.

I hope I don't have early Alzheimers

If you're actually going into the fridge and staying there, you have more than a memory problem, my friend.

I was going to respond, but I don't remember why.

Poor working memory sounds like the thing I experience in conversations.

I might say make a statement or describe something. Then the person I'm talking with will say something that seems unexpected to me, and I find it to be a complete non-sequitur. I'm confused and wonder why they said that.

It's only later when I've been agonizing over that conversation and re-running it, picking through it, that I suddenly find that what they said was not a non-sequitur and did in fact relate to what I had said immediately before.

It's just that I actually kind of forgot what I said immediately after I had said it!

And so when they responded, I didn't know why they were saying what they were saying, because I'd forgotten it had anything to do with what I had just said.

I find that completely weird and I've really agonized over it. I do it a lot. I basically have to think about a conversation for hours afterward just to start "getting" what the other person was saying.

I do think it's because of being easily distracted by sensory issues. Noise is the big one for me -- if there's a lot going on in the audible sense, I can't hold a conversation without incredible frustration and tension and difficulty, and boom, there goes my ability to hang onto the thread of what either of us are saying.

Imagine if I were small enough to actually fit into a full fridge?