nonsensical associations

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I don't know if this has to do with ASDs... or with anything.;;;;;;
Do you guys, when you think of something, ever, like.. automatically get reminded of something else or get a specific feeling from it that has absolutely nothing to do with it?

Like when I think of birdseed I'm reminded of socks, and when I see a lot of lines I feel the same as if I were in a dark leafy forest. And there are some more subtler ones like how certain people make me feel when I see them. And I can't figure out what these things have to do with each other, and it drives me nuts because I don't want these wrong impressions to get in the way of me accurately perceiving reality. D:
Is there a reason why this happens?;;;;

Sounds very much like associative thinking. Supposedly those with ASDs are more likely to reason and think associatively. Such thought processes probably help contribute to what's commonly termed "out-of-the-box" thinking.

Even if you're not sure what the association is, it's very much buried in your head. For instance, when you think about birdseed, maybe you saw birdseed in one of those feeders that resembles a sock (like a finch feeder), which then makes you think about your favorite socks. Or not. The association link may have been more evident at one point in your life, but now it doesn't logically flow at all.

Me, I'm likely to go off on huge tangents with word associations. A word or phrase reminds me of a different word or phrase with a completely different subject line. Someone once asked me if they should hire a cab from Blue Cab or Red Cab. I was immediately reminded of, "Blue Hat, Green Hat, Red Hat, Oops..." which is from a Boynton book I have been reading my son. Then my thoughts wandered off into reading books to my son, and I forgot what the original question was.

Yeah. It can lead to some odd conversations

Hahaha okay yeah I guess I do that too. XD; Just completely jump topics in conversations..
Thanks, I guess maybe you're right.. but sometimes it just seems soooooooo insanely random.

I do that a lot... constantly pretty much, lol. I always feel sorry for whoever is trying to carry on a conversation with me, because I can imagine I'm quite confusing to keep up with-heck I can't even keep up with my own thoughts.

My boyfriend can be talking to me about something he ate for lunch 3 days ago, and I'll blurt out "thanks for reminding me!" and go make dinner, ignoring the fact that he was ever even talking to me... and after that, he can't talk to me, because if he's talking about food stuff, I'll forget what I'm trying to make for dinner.

It seems everything could possibly remind me of something else... and is kind of fun to play with at times-word association. When people try those types of things with me, rarely does the connection really mean anything, it just is.

Its sort of what thinking metaphorically is.

I don't know about that, I'm sort of terrible with metaphors. D:

I have a weird filing system in my brain. it's like an exploding closet sometimes. pull one thing out and you get a shitsplosion of random crap... which does, as some have observed, make for some strange and insanely rambling monologues.

tangential thoughts and loose associations are common in folks with ASDs and other executive function disorders like ADHD, also in some forms of dementia.

My own curious thought, is that while in ADHD and Dementia's it has to do with poor inhibition in the executive system (and that might be true for ASDs too) that it would interesting to look into the role of the observed lack of pruning of synaptic connections in people with ASDs, and is the brain letting associations "stay wired together" that do not necessarily belong together. In other words, a loose association was formed, and it never "died off." So you are now equally likely to think bird seed-sock, as bird seed-cardinal.

this has helped me professionally, as i sometimes see connections that others ignore, and relate seemingly random information better than other people, and i am thus better able to find actual connections.

i imagine linneas pauling and most systemizers experience this as well

That's my thought here too on this causation linked to E. Dysf.

I experience odd random associations with spoken words or phrases like - "pretty soon" ; this conjures up a 'picture in a frame' of a still life of a bowl of fruit on a table.
Or " almost" brings up a picture of a cartoon-like blue mountain with a snow cap.

I had these two associations since about three years of age and they have stuck till now.

Also the subconcious 'seems' to be very close by at the edge of the periphery of my awareness ...... to where I can sense it( sometimes see a shadow) , but not quite all the way until it randomly surfaces when triggered like this..... is this uncommon?

I don't think that's uncommon, I think that's what it means to have something on the tip of your tongue.. and usually people remember what it was randomly later that day or something. But I think it's usually triggered by something closer to the original idea.
Anyway, good examples, that sounds like exactly the kind of thing I experience.

And odd42, thank you for the input, those are some great thoughts. Before I knew I had ASD I identified my problem as "not able to narrow down possibilities to a reasonable/manageable amount", (Which I saw mainly as a problem in real-time thinking/doing/interacting) and I think this must be like that. A lack of ability to trim the fat from thoughts.