Perception of past events

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I don't know if this is an Aspie/Autism thing, but it's really hard for me to differentiate between concepts like yesterday/last week/last month/last year etc. To me it's all about the same, and I often use the term "yesterday" to refer to the time of occurrence of any past event. It's like I don't feel any distance between now and the past, and when I talk to people they often correct me about it. I can say something like, "The cake you baked for me yesterday was really good", and then my mom will say, "What? Oh, you mean last week? Yeah, I liked it too". I don't even know if that's the normal way people perceive the past. Is it normal? Are people supposed to have a feeling for the distance between now and the past? Anyone else here with similar experiences?

I wouldn't use the word yesterday if I knew it wasn't specifically yesterday because I know that would be confusing but an event that happened one year ago feels about the same distance as five years ago.

Hmm... It's not that I do it on purpose to confuse people. I just automatically say "yesterday". I am capable of making other distinctions, but it takes a lot of thought.

I think I know what you mean. I tend to really misjudge elapsed time. I might say I did something last week, when it was a month ago. I tend to stick to general terms, like I'll say 'a while ago', instead of being specific.

I don't seem to have the same sense of time as NTs do. Things that happened years ago often don't seem any further away than things that happened yesterday. I remember details of events and conversations from years ago, that most people seem to forget. People often think I'm inventing a memory, because it was so long ago and they can't remember it, but I find the more details I give, eventually they'll get some mental flash of familiarity with what I'm saying, but they can't remember it in clear detail like I can. Each memory is like a page in my brain, but they are not in any order, and the only way I can tell when an event occurred is by referring to where the memory took place. For instance, I can put my childhood memories into chronological order because we moved house every year or two, so each childhood memory I have is related to a specific setting, so I can order them that way.

Another thing that happens is that at college I'll mention something I heard in a lecture a couple of years ago, and the other students ask me how I remember it. But it doesn't seem any hazier in my mind than a lecture from a week ago. But often I'm not aware of all these memories existing in my mind until something prompts them. So I can go into an exam when I haven't studied, thinking I know nothing, and with no clear understanding of what the exam is about and what sort of things I'm supposed to know - but once I see the questions, then I immediately remember the lectures where we learnt about these things, and I do well in the exam. I can do better than people who have studied really hard for the exam, which seems unfair in some ways, but then AS has disadvantages in other ways, so I suppose really it's only fair I have some advantages!

Same here. It is like everything in the past might just as well have happened all on one day, or during a single month in whatever year -- kind of like a pile of old and recent photos all together in one box.

Last edited by leejosepho on 25 Jul 2010, 11:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

Hmmm I don't think my perception of time is too abnormal, but I do struggle to pick the correct term for yesterday, today, tomorrow, last week, etc. I see this as the same problem I have saying "feet" instead of "inches." It's probably also similar to being a poor judge of age, size, distance, etc. (which I am).

Exactly!

This is true for me as well. The past is accessible with incredible clarity and detail, but almost no sense of time distance. I use vague general guesses to refer to when; recently, some time ago, ages ago, etc.

My memories are more like holograms which can be re-experienced, but in all other ways I completely agree with your whole post. Moving houses/changing schools as a child, and each change of location as an adult allows me to allocate memories into different slots, which is the closest I can get to a chronology.

Random memories pop up in response to associative prompts, and I have often been asked how on earth I can remember the things I do, which was how I concluded that most people don't remember much at all, especially detail. But if I'm asked to date them, I'm stuck. I have a very poor sense of time really.

I have found that remembering things about other people, especially conversations from years previously which they have forgotten, tends to make them very uncomfortable, and I get called spooky sometimes. And I also realised that some people assume that remembering something in detail from years before means it must have great significance, and they cannot understand that it is no different to something that happened the day before.

Since identifying AS, I have had to deal with having all sorts of things pop up for re-examination, so it can sometimes be hard to tell quite when I am. Keeping the past at bay because it's a really inconvenient moment has been a challenge at times, but I might be getting past that phase, at last.

Yes, having a phenomenal memory has mostly been an advantage, even if other people thought I was some kind of walking computer.

Interesting my 8 year old sister does this yesterday X happen we're like huh? Then she explains what happen and it's oh a couple weeks/months ago when you got injured oh ok. So her retelling of stories confuses us. (I suspect her of being on the spectrum and a diagnosis wouldn't shock me LOL!) but nothing yet.

I'm like ladyrain--my memories are kind of like holograms and they are only dated by content.

There are several papers on the problems of autobiographical memory in ASD. It seems to be common. I got the impression that most people store memories semantically somehow.

Yes, I find this. People can think you're obsessed with them if you remember details about them from years ago, so they get creeped out. And if you remember things from years ago, they often see this as meaning you have no life, because they assume this must have been the most significant thing that ever happened to you! So I've learnt to be cautious in mentioning things I remember.

Yes, my perception of time seems to be much cloudier than other people's, I usually need to date things by where I was living at the time they took place.

This, too. Took me a while to learn not to say too much!

Damn, I never thought of that. I just run my mouth off, hehe.

I remember dates, where I lived at a certain time, other happenings, etc., by video game release dates. I guess it's just a good visual marker for me, since you see it when you boot up the game. Donkey Kong Country was released in 1994, and I know I got that the first year I was living in a new state, therefore I moved in 1994.

Me too, once the information is there, it just comes out, and then I end up with the aftermath. So one little comment turns into an interrogation, why did you say that, why is it relevant, explain yourself, etc etc.
Bigmouth Strikes Again.
(And I've got no right to take my place with the human race! )

Even so, I still try to be me at all times, because if I only behaved in ways which made other people comfortable, then I might as well not exist. For every person who thinks I'm a bit strange, the truth is it's mutual, if they don't get me, then they're strange too from my viewpoint. And my viewpoint is just as valid as theirs is.