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Life long problem with short term memory.

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tbam
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02 Mar 2008, 4:54 pm

Memory is probably the biggest part of the reason why I started searching to see why I was different. I've always had trouble with my memory, both in school and in my adult life.

In my last relationship it provided a massive problem, as my memory was attrocious with instructions, or remembering things on a short term basis. However, sometimes i was exceptionally good at remembering things (usually involved with my special interest), and I have a great long term memory. It used to create problems (and still sometimes does) as I only seemed to remember the things I liked doing, and things I was interested in. It made me come off as selfish, but I couldn't help it.

I was so attrociously bad at remembering some things that my ex wanted me to see a psychologist, but at that point in my life, I was very stubborn about my own thoughts and mind-altering therapy or drugs. I thought that i might lose part of myself if I saw someone about it. That i might stop being me and not even know it.

Now, i can see the patterns more clearly, and have found AS, which has been a big help, and i am enthusiastic about seeing a psychologist or someone who knows more about the human brain and mind than I do. Regarding my memory, I have found that if I write something down in my diary, I can usually remember it pretty easily. However another one of my problems is procrastination, which combined with the bad memory is not the best combination.



Odin
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02 Mar 2008, 5:13 pm

I suck at keeping multiple tasks in my working memory at one time and going back and forth between them, I can't multi-task to save my life

Quote:
This is actually a working memory issue, rather than short term memory.

Info comes in and you're supposed to hold it in this working memory cache wheilst you decide what to do with it, how to use it.

Some bits are discarded, others are transferred to short term memory. In turn, items that are repeated, that you concentrate on, that are brought to your notice though their attachment to high emotional importance are transferred finally to long term memory.

That's basically how it was explianed to me by the psychologist who tested my memory functions. Think of a pc with HD (long term memory), cache (short term),

What happens is the program and data is loaded from the hard drive into RAM (short term) and then into cache RAM (working) where the info is operated on (using CPU) in the moment. Or vice versa.

And yes, my working memory is rubbish - as Paul descri bes. I am completely wedded to my laptop - it is my working and short term memory. Without it I would be living in a complete haze of info that i find very difficult to sort out. Indeed , before computers I lived the whole of my life in a fog.

The ironic but typically aspie adjunct to all this is that I have the amazing hyperfocus and ability to work with very specific data for extended periods of time. Computers have extended my capacity wonderfully.


IIRC working memory and short-term memory, as used by neuroscientists, are the same thing, it is information, like a phone number, being kept in awareness by the prefrontal cortex. Information in working memory needs to be repeated or else it will be forgotten in about a minute. The repetition of information also starts to activate cell networks centered on the hippocampus region of the temporal lobes that start to consolidate the information into long-term memory.


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Rainstorm5
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02 Mar 2008, 5:50 pm

Quote:

IIRC working memory and short-term memory, as used by neuroscientists, are the same thing, it is information, like a phone number, being kept in awareness by the prefrontal cortex. Information in working memory needs to be repeated or else it will be forgotten in about a minute. The repetition of information also starts to activate cell networks centered on the hippocampus region of the temporal lobes that start to consolidate the information into long-term memory.


My short-term memory is terrible now, but it wasn't always that way. I have an eidetic memory, especially for words and numbers. Lately it hasn't been what it used to be, maybe because I recently dealt with chronic anemia and I had some very mild brain damage because of it. Up until a few years ago, I had near total recall of my life dating back to the age of four, including all the addresses I've ever lived in, the names of all my teachers, pets (and I've had a lot of them), acquaintances and so on. I no longer have near-total recall, and there are large holes in my long-term memory now. I blame the anemia for that.

My short term memory is so bad now that I carry a digital tape recorder with me wherever I go to make notes of people's names & appearance (I can't remember faces anymore, either), as well as simple tasks I can't remember anymore, like buying fuel for the car on the way home. I'd also be lost without Post-it sticky notes. Both computers at home and work are covered in them.


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Last edited by Rainstorm5 on 02 Mar 2008, 5:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Nico
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02 Mar 2008, 5:51 pm

My short-term memory is awful. If someone tells me their name or something like that, I've forgotten it in an instant. Same goes for remembering tasks that need doing, I always need reminding about what I need to do next.


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