How does your memory work?

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I wanna know because, I'm curious that I might have autism.

All different ways, but apparently well in some way and not so well in others. I had an Aspie co-worker who has a photographic memory. My Aspie BFF remembers dates like nobody's business. I am neither: I can "ingest" 1,000 of pages of text and pass a test on the material near perfect, but I have no idea how. I couldn't tell you I know these things, but when I see multiple choice, I know them. I'm sure with fill-in-the-blank I'd report not remembering a single thing. My short-term memory stinks and I have to write down Everything. How's yours work?

My sister says I have an excellent childhood memory, but I feel like I can hardly remember anything. So either her memory is especially bad or mine is fairly good. The memories I do have feel like yesterday. At work I am known for remembering "esoteric facts" and again I think I can hardly remember anything, wouldn't anybody remember more than this? So apparently my standards are high and it's hard to self-report.

I have a good memory when I write things down and a good memory for facts and dates. I have trouble when I don't write things down, especially new things.

As previous posters have pointed to, a lot depends on what kind of memory you're talking about - there are a lot of different kinds, depending upon what we use the recalled memories for. My personal impression is that whether autism affects our memory most likely depends upon what variety of traits each individual has. For example, executive functioning and attention problems might mostly impair working memory, alexithymia (poor emotion recognition) might have more effect on autobiographical memory, and aphantasia (poor sensory imagination) might affect memories of sensory experiences more (all subjective examples from my own experience.)

I have a good autobiographical memory, where I can remember certain points in my life by the year (not the actual date though). I can usually recall memories by remembering the mood, the environment, the emotions at the time. I think my autobiographical memory is the best I have.
I must remember words because I'm a good speller. I can remember birthdays of most people. My short-term memory isn't so good but not bad enough to interfere with my daily functioning. We're talking autism here, not dementia.

I don't have great memory for most things but I believe that is affected by my dyspraxia. However my memory for the things I care about ie. special interests is truly exquisite. I can remember those specifics for years.

I have a very good long term memory and poor short term memory. I am kind of a visual and kinesthetic learner and tend to process by association more than logic. I also tend to be an emotional learner and associate a lot of things by emotion. I try not to dwell on the past but it can be very difficult if I had recently had an experience that seemed similar to something in the past.
I am also a literal thinker, I can understand idioms and sarcasm but my default is literal in any new situation or with trying to understand instructions. I also tend to focus harder than most and have a hard time adjusting to change possibly due to the cost of the focus. I also struggle with self control and think it might be due to trying so hard to master skills through out my life that I somehow cut into the mental reserves necessary for self control. I am really working on finding a balance in a lot of areas now because it seems like making changes creates new problems.

Excellent declarative long term memory, but short term memory of a goldfish

I thought my memory is crap. But then I went to college in my mid 40s and found that it's better than most of my classmates'. They're only 18 to 20. I don't think my introspection is very good.

Your autism is probably not defined by your memory, though.

Anything new that read or hear is instantly compared to my memories and for better or for worse are centered around memories related almost exclusively to songs, films and TV shows and to a lesser extent, books. If someone says a word or phrase that coincides with a memory of that word or phrase in a song, film or TV show it's instantly associated with that memory for me. I can't turn it off.

Example: Ezra recently created a thread with the title: "I need advice". Within a split second of reading that, I had the song "Miserable Lie" by the Smiths running through my head because that's a line from the song.

All new stimuli I experience seems to be first applied to my memories of song, film and TV to see if there's a match.

It's hard for me to memorise things, but once I do, I don't forget it.

I remember in college talking to my roommate and being astonished that I remembered some event better than he did. I used to repeat back verbatim things my brother said but he would deny having said them, so in time I lost the ability of total recall. I wished I still had it when I studied journalism. I often have an associative memory. I saw a girl in the college book store open an envelope by tearing one of the short sides rather than the long side. I adopted that method but every time I do it I think of that girl and our relationship that went sour.

I also played chess with a girlfriend, another relationship that ended badly. I was loosing and said I was going to resign. She told me to keep playing, that something might happen and I could still win. I tried to explain that chess doesn't work like that, that when you get into trouble there is no way out, you are outnumbered and in a bad position. But she had to insist on her pollyannish notion of never giving up. I'd play chess on my computer and every time I played I'd remember that. It got better after a while.

I also type and when I type numbers I remember a teacher telling me I should use the number keys on the right side.

I had a strange experience when I took a trip to Europe. The day before I left I listened to a record. While traveling for a week or so, one fragment from one of the songs played in my mind like the record player was right there over and over.

I have a very spotty memory.