[kleyn_diner]

Hallo everyone

I know this question may be silly and even unnecessary, so it's ok if you prefer to delete this thread. But it's just something that came to my mind when I was reading a post in an aspie guy's blog. I'll paste it here for you:

"Videographic Memory: This is the way I describe my memory. Instead of thinking in pictures, or words, my memories are very much like a DVD that has a narration track. I am able to see all the events of my life with narration. I must admit it is kind of cool, but the downside is that memories can stay with me a long time because I can literally see it in my mind as if it had just happened. I thought everyone had a memory like this up until last year (see, I think therefore you should know)."
Source: http://lifeontheothersideofthewall.b...e-of-wall.html

Well, it's the same with me. I mean, my memory is also like this and, like the guy who wrote it, I always thought everyone had this 'kind' of memory. Actually, I can't even imagine how it is to think in words, or pictures, to remember things. That's why I'm curious, I'd like to understand how it works. If any of you, guys, non-aspies could contribute by telling how it is for you, that would be nice. Even aspies who have a better understanding of it than I have would be helpful.

Thank you for reading.

[roses4me]

well, I am not asperger
when I was in my teens and twenties, I had a photographic memory
at university, I could 'rewind' what the prof said and here it again word for word
or I could rewind the video camera and see what had been written on the board exactly as it had been before

now of course with ptsd and general anxiety, I have trouble remembering everything and can rarely do this anymore

so I am not sure this is aspie or non-aspie

sorry

roses

although yesterday, my boyfriend wanted to go to a specific restaurant but couldn't remember where it was, I actually remembered being in the car with him while he was pointing out the restaurant. In other words, I saw and heard this event from a number of years ago,

my father is asperger and has never been able to do this

There is no such thing as a silly question, if it is honest.

I am a possible Aspie, and I have a very vividly detailed memory. People in my family tend to call me if they are trying to remember the name of the cat who belonged to our neighbor across the street in 1978.

The trouble is, the hurt from abusive situations lingers on, because my memory still feels so current. Sometimes I have to stop and calculate how long ago something actually happened.

[Omers]

"I am a possible Aspie, and I have a very vividly detailed memory. People in my family tend to call me if they are trying to remember the name of the cat who belonged to our neighbor across the street in 1978."

OMG! I can so relate!!! Only if they are obscure facts that have limited real importance... Important things, like answers on tests... not so much. But when I was tested it was discovered that there is something wrong with my short term memory... If it makes it to long term memory it is there forever!

I "talk to myself" in my head almost non-stop but that isn't how I think. I just have to translate things to words in my head before letting them out into the world. If I don't I either become non-verbal or look like I am having some sort of psychotic break.

What little sign I know is a godsend because my body can "move a thought" without having to translate it.

[dragonfly2]

While my aspie daughter doesn't think in video, she does think in pictures. This was a *huge* breakthrough in understanding her. As a verbal thinker and non-aspie (I hate the term "neurotypical"), it never occurred to me that words were not her "native language", so to speak. I'm sorry that I don't have any other insights, but I wanted to say that the fact that you have made this discovery about yourself is huge and will help you immensely in navigating a verbal world.

My husband, another possible Aspie, cannot think in words. He thinks in pictures and has to translate them to words, which he often has a hard time doing. He also has trouble reading a long passage of words. Not that he can't read, he can, but he has trouble translating the words to pictures, so his mind can understand them, for that length of time.

[kleyn_diner]

Thank you for all your input!

Well, I could realise that even in this aspect aspies are different from one another, just as non-aspies (I don't like this term "neurotypical", too, dragonfly2, I think it's weird). I'm trying to analyse the way I use to think, but I can't at all. It seems to be similar to much that you described. For example, I played a role in a play 11 years ago, when I was a young teenager, and I remember me playing there, then I remember all the speeches I had, every single word, even the longest speeches. But what comes to my mind first is the scene of me playing there, I can even "see" the details of the clothes I wore. It's a funny thing.

And it's the same with me, LovebirdsFlying. I think I have this kind of memory, I remember things, details that other people don't. And, I don't if it's similar, but I just have the impression that things didn't happen that long ago. I mean, they don't seem 'distant'. I don't know if I can explain it.

[PJango]

My memories are held in (like) power point slides. they aren't as in a video. I'm not sure if it's the way I've always been, or some life traumas.

I tend to have some AS tendensies, though I've not been formally tested, and my husband is just set up to have some testing done. I have ADD, so when I look at how some material is presented, visual always helps me learn.

My T the other day drew a diagram to help me understand a concept she wanted to convey to me, and that helped alot.

[Sassychick]

Hi

I'm an Aspie and sometimes I think in words.
While thinking in words, I picture myself saying the words I'm thinking in to somebody...as I'm thinking them. I hope that makes sense and is at least somewhat helpful.
Also, why would anybody want to delete this thread?
I don't think it's silly or anything. It's good to be curious and ask questions.

[shoopydoop]

This was a very interesting thread. I thought I'd add my two cents. I've always thought in what I'd describe as "3D pictures". Kind of like a hologram. In my head, it's like I can see all sides of it at once, inside and out. It's really helped me out with my art, so I never really gave it much thought, until I got older and realized not everyone was like that.

[mgran]

My aspie son's memory is so phenomenal that he clearly remembers things that happened to him as an infant under six months old. I think his earliest confirmable memory is between three and four months. Sometimes when he "zones out" what's actually happening is that he's walking around in his memory reliving it. Then he jerks back to reality and is a bit bewildered for a moment. This is getting less the case as he gets older (he's fifteen now) but his recall is just astonishing.

My memory is like the audio track on a dvd, I remember words, sounds, and music. Language feels like it has shape to me, or gears behind it, clicking into place. This might be why I'm good at languages... or perhaps it's the other way round, and language feels this way because I had early exposure to more than one language.

Whatever the cause, my memory's a source of confusion to me. At times it's very good, at others less than trustworthy, since my mental illness causes me to (sometimes) remember fears, daydreams, etc, as real memory. I was diagnosed autistic as a child, schizoaffective as an adult. My pdoc told me that I still have characteristics of asperger's syndrome, which complicate my other diagnoses.

Still... I manage. My son does too. I think the way our memory works is fascinating.

I think in pictures too. I also have DID, and we have a little one who "thinks" in typed words going across a screen. There's another one inside who thinks in video.

I too have memories from VERY early.... earliest confirmed memory is from less than 2 weeks old.

[mgran]

If I could stop thinking in words perhaps I'd stop hearing voices.

[CantExplain]

I have a good memory, but it's not as accurate as I like to think!

I can remember things that matter to me, but for the rest, I'm no better than average, perhaps worse.