[blackandwhite34521]

Hi!

I think I might have ADHD, but I have never been diagnosed. I have a specific question about ADHD. I noticed that when I listen to or read something abstract, it is almost impossible to hold the information in my "working memory". I retain in my head only few words that I just heard, but everything before that is completely blank. In the end I remember very vaguely or not at all what I heard/read.

When I work with more factual information, it is however much easier to retain the information.

Does anybody else experience this? Thank you in advance!

[kaliope]

hi blackandwhite
interesting question that i cannot answer cause i know nothing about adhd. i do know that some people are naturally abstract thinkers while others are more concrete and that has absolutely nothing to do with adhd. it has to do with the left/right brain stuff. what i really wanted to do, since this was your first post was welcome you.

welcome to psych central. you will find we have several forums where you can post about your concerns and receive feedback from other members. you will get a lot of support here. again, welcome

I do notice that it is much easier for me to retain certain types of material in "working memory" than others. I've never been able to categorize very well the types that don't stay in working memory for me.

I remember this being especially frustrating in certain college classes. It was like a hand was taking notes on the chalkboard of my brain, and another hand was following along and erasing what was written before my brain could grasp it.

[kanasi]

Hi & welcome, blackandwhite34521.

I think ADHD struggles with "executive functions" in the brain could relate to this (at least as far as holding things in one's mind being harder for types of thinking that aren't "rewarding" enough), but it could also be due to unrelated factors, like kaliope said.

It is hard to categorize, but can you think of some areas in which you've had difficulty significantly lower/higher than your baseline level of ability with keeping things in working memory?

For example, I have decent semantic memory (knowing a basic summary/outline/description of things that happened to/around you). If I'm reasonably certain of a semantic memory, and I have the opportunity to verify it, I usually find that I'm remembering it right. If I have a solid semantic memory of something, I also seem to remember what emotions I felt about it pretty well, for what that's worth. But then there's my nonverbal (i.e. "sense") memory of the actual experience. I can't "play back" those physical sense memories of things that happened. I can't "see" it again in my head, even though I know (semantically) exactly what happened. (e.g. I suspect my visual memory in particular is like the equivalent of me having a blurry old photograph where most people would have a short video clip.)

[blackandwhite34521]

Originally Posted by jo_thorne

I do notice that it is much easier for me to retain certain types of material in "working memory" than others. I've never been able to categorize very well the types that don't stay in working memory for me.

I remember this being especially frustrating in certain college classes. It was like a hand was taking notes on the chalkboard of my brain, and another hand was following along and erasing what was written before my brain could grasp it.

Yeah, exactly on point. I find information that isn't flowing around some central concept, much harder to retain. I need the information to be closely interconnected, otherwise I just seem to forget it instantly.

[blackandwhite34521]

Thank you all for your answers and for a warm welcome!

[kanasi]

Originally Posted by blackandwhite34521

Yeah, exactly on point. I find information that isn't flowing around some central concept, much harder to retain. I need the information to be closely interconnected, otherwise I just seem to forget it instantly.

Well when you put it that way, I'm the same, but I always related that back to being an NT (I'm a Myers-Briggs INTP)...?

Me too!........

[vonmoxie]

For me, taking in information from multiple separate-yet-interrelated topics is always the best way for me to learn. I tend to have at least 7 or 8 books out from the library at once, all non-fiction, and read them nearly simultaneously. I suppose the extra activity in my mind of connecting information from source to source even while I'm reading it helps it to stick. My brain works in mysterious ways.

Gives me a giggle when I tell folks I've been reading and they almost always think I must mean novels. Just the facts, ma'am.