Is this an example of literal thinking?

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TTRSage
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07 Dec 2014, 11:46 pm

When you really stop to think about it, our literal thinking comes from our intense focus on details in the sense that we are so focused on the fine points of what others are saying that we overlook the possible hidden meanings that may be involved. In my case, I have been so overloaded by such hidden meanings over the years that I catch them instantly but find them to be intensely offensive because such people cannot simply say what they mean. Autism isn't a collection of totally independent traits as many psychs like to think of it (and as Jerry Seinfeld seems to still be struggling with from his still-compartmentalized view of autism). All of it is interrelated and contributes to our totally different manner of thinking... or more properly worded, might be the result of our different way of thinking.

Two paragraphs (the first of which I posted here long ago) that I have written about autism for an unrelated email are applicable here. I will include both of them below.

The definition of autism has become quite complex over the years, but the one that I always like to return to time and time again is the original definition from which the word first originated. The word autism comes from the Greek word "auto" and prefix "aut" meaning "of or pertaining to the self". To me this sums it up very concisely and says so much more than all that the psychologists' DSM specifies autism to be. We are people who are intensely turned inwards and spend much time focused on the self, but we are not selfish in the sense of projection of the self... that is what neurotypicals do. Aspies are introverted and observe the self while neurotypicals project themselves.

...

The Aspie brain is simply wired very differently from that of neurotypicals. The brains of most people filter out much of what they perceive of the world almost like seeing the world through a pair of very dark sunglasses. This is a built-in protective mechanism that allows neurotypicals to selectively react to individual events quickly without becoming overloaded by everything else (for example people holding a conversation with the TV blaring, phones ringing, kids screaming, multiple people talking etc). The Aspie brain on the other hand filters out almost nothing and as a result we are highly perceptive and incredibly sensitive, both emotionally and in terms of the physical senses. As a result we can easily be overloaded by things that other people consider to be nothing out of the ordinary. I sometimes wonder how neurotypicals can possibly manage to miss things that hit me like a brick in the face. I am even more surprised by the fact that most neurotypicals don't even seem to care when you point out to them the things that they have missed. This vast flood of information into our brains is too much to be processed in realtime. So there is often a noticeable cognitive delay between the time when an event occurs (such as conversation) and the time when our brains have processed all of it well enough to be able to react. But by this time, the NT world has moved on to other things, so Aspies will always end up out of sync with the rest of the world. This is why Aspies get far more details than NTs do but cannot keep up with a simple conversation... and especially a conversation with more than one person present at a time (to say nothing of aggression). For this reason, many people get the impression that Aspies are ret*d because we do not immediately react, almost as if there was nothing at all going on in our brains when the exact opposite is usually the case. This also makes us a frequent target of thoughtless condescending remarks, which are always highly offensive and yet something to which we seldom react, again because of those cognitive delays that prevent us from getting the words out in time to be relevant. Aspies are often extremely sensitive and perceptive people and generally tend to be rather stoic, quiet and passive most of the time. It just does not seem that way to others who are accustomed to quick witty responses. It is offensive to treat us like babies such as speaking slowly or loudly. We usually get it the first time but still need time to process it all. It is much more appropriate to say something like "just think about it and we can talk about it later". It is also offensive to speak of us in the third person in our presence or near presence as happens to me very often. I personally believe that this cognitive delay is more at the root of all of the other effects of autism than anything else... but that is only my view. If you can understand this one concept then everything else about autism should be easy to understand.

This doesn't completely answer your question, but as I said earlier, it is all interrelated and I believe that this is probably relevant to what you asked... or else I am just being a rambling Aspie.



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08 Dec 2014, 6:43 am

EXCELLENT explanation / post, TTRSage!!

Skilpadde: Yeah, "almost accident" totally makes more sense!! We actually used to have a saying similar to that, here; but, someone said something like: "he ALMOST missed", and it morphed into "near miss". In this day-and-age when ADHD is running rampant, I feel some people are only HALF-hearing, and / or, HALF understanding things that are being said----these forums, ALONE, are near-proof of that----but, at least, on forums, people can go back and re-read, but they don't!!



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08 Dec 2014, 6:58 am

When I graduated with my MS in Math and moved out of my office shared with three other grad students in the Math Department, they put another student in my place. I had had a refrigerator in there and wouldn't need it again so I gave it to a friend of mine who was still there. He didn't actually spend that much time in that office but would go in about once a week.

The student who took my place was a very nice and competent math grad student. One day the friend of mine opened the refrigerator door and it really stunk. There was a package there so he asked the new grad student what it was who replied that it was fish. (I'm not sure what he was doing with raw fish in an office where he wouldn't be able to cook it.) The friend of mine asked him if he would mind not leaving it there in the refrigerator and the new student agreed to take it out.

A week later, he came in again and the entire office stunk really bad. It turned out that the new grad student had merely taken the fish out of the refrigerator and placed it on a bookshelf where it had been stinking up the office for the entire week.



untilwereturn
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08 Dec 2014, 9:56 am

TTRSage wrote:

This doesn't completely answer your question, but as I said earlier, it is all interrelated and I believe that this is probably relevant to what you asked... or else I am just being a rambling Aspie.


No, you're not rambling. That's an excellent summary of much of my own experience interacting socially with the world. Very well-stated! :D



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08 Dec 2014, 3:56 pm

Skilpadde wrote:
L_Holmes wrote:
One time my little brother was watching "Brave", and at the part where it shows some salmon jumping out of the water, he said, "Flying fish!" I immediately said, "No, they aren't flying fish, they're just jumping." And my step mom butted in and said, "No, you're wrong. That's a very common nickname for salmon, everybody knows that." Well I didn't. I got kind of mad, because I felt like she was purposely trying to make me look dumb, she could have just said, "Yes, I think he heard somebody else say it. It's just a nickname for salmon."

When I was rather little I learned about flying fish, so I knew they existed. I looked it up right now, because I've never heard salmon be called that, and I can not find any link between salmon and flying fish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_fish
Quote:
The Exocoetidae are a family of marine fish in the order Beloniformes of class Actinopterygii. Fish of this family are known as flying fish. About 64 species are grouped in seven to nine genera.

The genera mentioned are Cheilopogon, Cypselurus, Exocoetus, Fodiator, Hirundichthys, Parexocoetus, Prognichthys.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon
Quote:
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Salmon are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus Salmo) and Pacific Ocean (genus Oncorhynchus).


http://pnwsalmoncenter.org/fish-fact/salmon-nicknames/

It annoys me when someone states something as a fact when it isn't.


You kinda beat me to the punch line.

I've NEVER heard salmon referred to as "flying fish". But his mom might be right-that locals in the Pacific Northwest along the Columbia River- observe salmon swimming upstream from the sea -to their fresh water breeding grounds in the mountain streams- and they observe the salmon leaping up waterfalls, and other athletic feats. So I can imagine that locals might call them "flying fish".

But the term "flying fish" usually refers to that family of ocean dwelling vaguely sardine like fish with overgrown winglike fins- that leap from the wave crests and glide through the air over long distances over the sea surface (kinda like flying squirrels glide between tree branches). Totally unrelated to salmon. The guys on the Kon Tiki raft (the famous balsa wood raft built by the explorer Thor Heiderthal (sp?) to test theories about ancient migration from south america to the south seas by drifting thousands of mile across the Pacific) were able to get protein in their diet from the flying fish that would slam into the raft's sails and fall onto the raft.