My rote memory

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I can learn long lists of numbers or words, such as decimal places of pi and train routes. For example I learnt London Waterloo to Shepperton and London Victoria to Horsham with little effort. I seem to be able to retain these things without consciously learning them, its like someone has taken the list and injected it into my head. I can memorise the number of every bus I see during walking down this long 'A' road that I have to walk down to get to the Underground station. I used to know the London Underground map off by heart.

Why is it that I can memorise these things? What process is going on in my brain that is doing this without conscious effort?

I'm curious, if someone said "what's the fourth station on the such-and-such line", would you know it instantly, or would you need to work along from the end station? I mean, are you storing "name + location", or are you storing "list of names, from which location can be deduced" when you memorise something like that?

That's an interesting post. I can only list them in order I think properly, but if given a few extra seconds I can list any part of it, but I have to run through the list.

arguably "conscious effort" has little to do with learning of any kind. (then I am a radical behaviorist) .
I would argue that the mind /body as a system have a point of balance with regard to the level of stimulation, We generate this stimulation in all kinds of ways it can be physical, it can be thinking about things, talking and socializing (ok that one is hypothetical), and learning the environment. when I was a kid I fooled my parents into thinking I could read when I was 3 b/c I had memorized all of the stories by hearing them. Why did I do that rather than being hyperactive, or pretending to be the charictores, d@%med if I know, but if its just something that your wired up to do really well, enjoy it.

Thank you. I do enjoy it indeed. I understand. I could read by age 3 but I learnt how to count before I could read.

Do you still memorise things?

I still memorize things like that to an extent. When I was in college (undergrad, I plan for more, but in the U$ academic research has extra challenges), I almost never studied. I made cum laud honors, I have this image in my mind of like a giant mesh ball of connections, each node being a concept, and when sitting in lectures as long as I could reword what the professor was saying in my own way I never had to look at the notes again. (good thing too, they were often incoherent, much as the better part of what I post.

now to get all geeky on it,
what do you know about neural plasticity and the theory underlying it?
basically it is the answer to the question posed by Feinman in his criticism of psychology,
what changes when we learn something new? the answer is the connections in our brain. they become stronger or weaker depending upon use (and some may be more robust initially) so were there is lots of action there is a highway, were it is slow there is a dirt path.
so assume the ability to just remember stuff regardless of its importance in life is one route (which may start off exceptionally robust in ASD), and the ability to filter is an entirely separate one, which in the case of ASD may be a dirt path.
So then the question becomes how do we turn that dirt path into a highway,
there is strong science to support a connection between operent reinforcement and increasing the robustness of connections through activation of the ($hT i forgot) Byrns, I think his lab is out Texas if your interested in the studies.

I get a similar image in my mind - mine is a little more like strings than mesh (think more triangular instead of a square mesh), but all the concepts connect on nodes. You are only other person who I have heard of that sees / learns / remembers this way. Do you think this is common?

Rote memory means you actually work hard to memorise something. This is whole part learning. Things you are interested in just stick in your head without making much of an effort.
I actually have to do rote memorisation because my long term memory isn't great and I need to constantly keep that information in my head. I learn information in small groups - the opposite of whole part learning.

Thank you for the posts.

I have a highly selective memory. My current (and has been for a long time now) obsession is psychopharmacology (hence why I chose to study pharmacology in university). I can read my psych pharm textbooks one through and just regurgitate information about it. I have bookmarked 77 different pages (on the internet) of 77 different psychiatric drugs. However I cannot memorise anything to do with history or literature no matter how hard I try.

The thing is, is that I am actually on a psychiatric ward in London right now (I am doing well and will be discharged next week I hope) and I have been given rubbish leave for some reason, so I have a LOT of time to learn things (I don't participate in any groups and hardly ever leave my room), so I am doing it more than normal.

I posted a while ago about this, but I am actually completely unable to think in images. I cannot form "pictures" in my brain. So all my somewhat involuntary memorising is done purely in words. I can rember train routes but I cannot imagine my best friend's face in my head.

I also cannot retain verbal information. A person could have a short conversation with me or give me verbal instructions, and two minutes later I'll have no idea what was said or talked about. So I learn next to nothing in lectures (also mental health problems don't help with memory retention in a room with 200 people in it either!). However when I go home and get out my textbooks, I learn much better.