willa
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 16, 2008
Age: 31
Posts: 1019
Location: between bannings.
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 Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:50 pm Post subject: Are these AS traits?... |
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Ok, since I was diagnosed I've never really seen a therapist, I dont talk about it to really anyone and this board is probably the most social i've been regarding AS so I wanna ask a few questions regarding things I do that seem like I'm the only one who does them or has difficulty with them. Are they traits of AS or just bad memory.
Memory. I can not remember a phone number and never have been able to. If I dont write it down while being told its gone. I also took this ball aptitude test once (kinda a general test of skills that tells you what you'd be good at) and I got a 0 on the memory part where it consisted of a list of letters and numbers, then on the next page half were missing and you had 15 seconds to look at complete list and then fill out incomplete. After the 15 seconds I couldnt recall a single one. My counselor said 'hmm, musta been an error in the scoring machine' after seeing my fat zero. I just nodded and said 'ya, hm' knowing I actually couldnt remember even one 2 character sequence.
I can tell you the name and number classification of every galaxy considered to be in our local cluster (and a good amount more beyond that), i can tell you the working title and season/episode number of all 72 Futurama episodes. Recite to me a short sequence of numbers and I wont be able to tell you it 10 seconds later.
Recognition. I never recognize people's faces I havnt seen within the last few months. This includes family members. I seem to remember hair styles more than faces. For example I have two aunts that when I think of them I think of the silhouette their hair makes around their head. After moving out of home state and coming back a year later for holidays my two aunts had changed their hair style and I could not remember who was who. And infact, this is pretty similar with my whole family now that i'm thinking more about it. The men I seem to remember by their bodies, like my one cousin has a pear shapped body, fat stomach, small head, another uncle who sans a neck.
Basically I am constantly coming across people who know me and I do not know who they are and am fighting to recognize their voice or hair or something to a former job/classmate and I find out more and more they are people I worked with like just 10 months prior.
The passing of time. Ok, today I had lunch with a friend who every other month or so we get together for lunch and catch up. Right now, it feels like yesterday, the last time we hooked up for lunch also feels like yesterday (and infact I can not tell you how long ago it was), I can tell you we've had lunch 14 times, and each restaurant, but I can not tell you any order what so ever, when the first time was, any day of the week, any amount of time between them etc. And this goes for just about everything. I remember what I did the last time I spent the day with my nephews, but I can not tell you how long ago it was. It also makes paying bills on time a very unlikely thing. Thank god for online bill pay, but my credit card and student loan I check probably 4 or 5 times a week out of habit to make sure i'm not past the due date.
So after typing this out I realize my memory seems f****. |
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orngjce223
Deinonychus
Joined: Oct 01, 2008
Posts: 344
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| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:59 pm Post subject: Re: Are these AS traits?... |
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| willa wrote: |
Memory. I can not remember a phone number and never have been able to. If I dont write it down while being told its gone. I also took this ball aptitude test once (kinda a general test of skills that tells you what you'd be good at) and I got a 0 on the memory part where it consisted of a list of letters and numbers, then on the next page half were missing and you had 15 seconds to look at complete list and then fill out incomplete. After the 15 seconds I couldnt recall a single one. My counselor said 'hmm, musta been an error in the scoring machine' after seeing my fat zero. I just nodded and said 'ya, hm' knowing I actually couldnt remember even one 2 character sequence.
I can tell you the name and number classification of every galaxy considered to be in our local cluster (and a good amount more beyond that), i can tell you the working title and season/episode number of all 72 Futurama episodes. Recite to me a short sequence of numbers and I wont be able to tell you it 10 seconds later.
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That's unusual, but it's certainly not unheard of.
| Quote: |
Recognition. I never recognize people's faces I havnt seen within the last few months. This includes family members. I seem to remember hair styles more than faces. For example I have two aunts that when I think of them I think of the silhouette their hair makes around their head. After moving out of home state and coming back a year later for holidays my two aunts had changed their hair style and I could not remember who was who. And infact, this is pretty similar with my whole family now that i'm thinking more about it. The men I seem to remember by their bodies, like my one cousin has a pear shapped body, fat stomach, small head, another uncle who sans a neck.
Basically I am constantly coming across people who know me and I do not know who they are and am fighting to recognize their voice or hair or something to a former job/classmate and I find out more and more they are people I worked with like just 10 months prior.
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"Prospagnosia": "face blindness".
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zeldapsychology
Phoenix
Joined: May 05, 2008
Age: 27
Posts: 3200
Location: Florida
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:10 am Post subject: |
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| I have to write phone numbers down to remember them and your time issue sounds like me LOL! I can do stuff etc. but mom will be like do you remember me telling you X me:No. (It was yesterday etc.) I say it was last week a couple weeks ago. I lose time LOL! |
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Xanderbeanz
Phoenix
Joined: Aug 09, 2008
Posts: 833
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:14 am Post subject: ... |
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thankfully, we have mobile phones with non volatile data storage to remember our phone numbers for us ^.^
ok.....gimme the episode where fry battles the brains and ends up in moby dick ^.^ x |
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willa
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 16, 2008
Age: 31
Posts: 1019
Location: between bannings.
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:16 am Post subject: |
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Wiki'd Prospagnosia and it's kinda scary. Seems pretty spot on but says it seems to stem from neurological damage of some sort. Maybe my mom did drop me on my head as a kid lol.
But now that I'm thinking things through I can tell you the hair color of ever women in my family but not a single guy (my father has passed away but I'm guessing he had the same color hair as me. this is kind of depressing right now =/). I cant tell you the eye color of a single one but everyone who does wear glasses. In fact, if you were to line up the glasses of everyone i've worked with for probably the last 5 years and my family i'll be able to tell you the owner of each. Maybe I've passively dealt with this without much consistency and subconsciously applied certain physical features as recognizable in each sex. |
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willa
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 16, 2008
Age: 31
Posts: 1019
Location: between bannings.
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:25 am Post subject: Re: ... |
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| Xanderbeanz wrote: | thankfully, we have mobile phones with non volatile data storage to remember our phone numbers for us ^.^
ok.....gimme the episode where fry battles the brains and ends up in moby dick ^.^ x |
hehe, 3acv07 if i'm not mistaken, the day the earth stood stupid. Thats an easy one cause the day the earth stood still is one of my favorite movies and cant wait for the new one coming out soon! Also not to be mistaken with 4acv10, the why of fry (though that one is also considered S05E08 cause it was done during the production of season 4 but aired during season 5. ) |
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Xanderbeanz
Phoenix
Joined: Aug 09, 2008
Posts: 833
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:28 am Post subject: .... |
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yeah, why of fry is the second time we meet the giant brains right....although in an earlier season we had the "brain balls" which were kinda similar....ah fry's breath smelled as fresh as a summer ham  x |
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willa
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 16, 2008
Age: 31
Posts: 1019
Location: between bannings.
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:33 am Post subject: |
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| "oh man, and this ham flavored gum is mostly bone" lol. 2acv17 War is the H Word. I think the name of the 3 like smart talking ones at the end were named The Brain Balls. |
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Xanderbeanz
Phoenix
Joined: Aug 09, 2008
Posts: 833
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:41 am Post subject: .... |
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| they've got alot of brains......and they've got alot of......kutzpah...XD |
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Emmett
Sea Gull
Joined: Oct 17, 2008
Posts: 214
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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| I have the "no concept of time" thing. I have no Idea if it's apergers, or not. I tend to think it isn't since autistic traits tend toward hyper memory of exactly when things occurred. I have several dyslexic disabilities and I always attributed it to them. |
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Callista
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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nah, prosopagnosia used to be thought to be due to brain injury; but lately there has been a huge amount of work done on developmental prosopagnosia, which is the type you're born with. No dropping on the head needed for that.
As to the OP's question: None of those, other than having memorized galaxy names and Futurama episodes, are specifically Aspie traits. Prosopagnosia is more common on the spectrum than off it, but the other two are generally "neurodiverse" traits, not specifically autistic. The bad short-term, good long-term memory thing is interesting; I have a similar, not so extreme version, with a digit span of seven (average) despite being about three standard deviations above the norm when it comes to general knowledge.
So... yes, you have an unusual brain. Aspie? We'd need to know more to guess at that.
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Kelsi
Phoenix
Joined: Jun 23, 2007
Posts: 646
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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Hi Willa,
I have no memory for phone numbers, or any other random sequence of numbers or letters either. I can't even remember my own phone number or vehicle registration number most of the time, which can be very embarrassing. I don't believe it is a recall problem at all. I believe it is to do with how I store the information in the first place. I only store information in visual form (holographic more accurately). So, give me a list of words and I can store them easily - because I will make a picture of each word - and then I can recall them easily. But I can't make a picture from a set or list of meaningless letters and/or numbers - therefore I can't store them, and then there is nothing in my memory to recall.
As for prospagnosia - it certainly does seem to be very common among AS people. Maybe this is due, in part, to the fact that we are less likely to focus on a person's whole face, because we are so busy trying to avoid eye contact. Even when we do look at a person when they are talking, we mostly focus on just one part of their face like their nose or mouth, etc.
But this may also have something to do with how we store information too. For example, when I meet Person X for the first time, I store the memory as a complete 'scene' - the person within the environment. If I continue to have contact with Person X, always in the same environment, then this memory is further reinforced. Then one day, I run into Person X in a totally different context (a different environment). I don't recognize them because they look totally different - they don't match the picture that I have of them in my memory, which is the complete 'scene'.
Time. I actually have an 'uncanny' ability to tell the time. If I take a guess, then look at a watch or clock, I am usually accurate within minutes. I also wake up at exactly the time I want to, without the assistance of an alarm. However, when it comes to the past, I can't remember when things happened. Like you, I don't know if something happened last week or three weeks ago, two years ago or five years ago. Again, I think this has something to do with how I store memories. I don't seem to have developed any system for storing information in time sequence.
So, rather than your memory being 'f*****', I would say that the way you store certain kinds of information seems to make it more difficult to recall .
I would also suggest that it should be entirely possible to develop (or learn from others) more efficient storage systems. I just haven't bothered myself  .
- As for being AS traits - well I guess they are cognitive differences, and as such, are more likely to be found among those who are neurologically divergent, like us.
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willa
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 16, 2008
Age: 31
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Location: between bannings.
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| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 1:06 am Post subject: |
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[quote="Kelsi"]Time. I actually have an 'uncanny' ability to tell the time. If I take a guess, then look at a watch or clock, I am usually accurate within minutes. I also wake up at exactly the time I want to, without the assistance of an alarm. However, when it comes to the past, I can't remember when things happened. Like you, I don't know if something happened last week or three weeks ago, two years ago or five years ago. Again, I think this has something to do with how I store memories. I don't seem to have developed any system for storing information in time sequence.
[quote]
That is the same as me. My short term time is uncanny as well. Like when I go on break at work, I am just subconsiously able to tell when its been an hour and time to clock in. I'll clock out, sit down, eat, rest my head for half hour and get up and go punch in and i'm always within 2-3 minutes of 60 minutes. And a few people have said something to me when I clock in without checking the time like 'how do you know its been an hour? you didnt check' but i just know. or when someone asks the time i'm always able to give it to within a few minutes where most people are like "about a quarter to" or the likes. But I do not seem to be able to sequence memories in time the way you described.
[quote="Kelsi"]
I would also suggest that it should be entirely possible to develop (or learn from others) more efficient storage systems. I just haven't bothered myself .
[quote]
I came across something that kinda worked for me, actually think i heard it on some history channel or discovery channel show on memory. If someone gives you a number like a pin number or something like 4354 I wouldn't remember it as "four, three, five, four" but as "four-thousand-three-hundred-fifty-four", memorize it as one longer number than 4 single didgit numbers. So It helps me with things like voicemail codes and things. But a 7 digit number like a phone number i cant do, nor trying a phone number as 2 numbers, a hundred number and thousand.
Thanks! It does kinda seem that its all pretty much side effects of AS =P. |
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makuranososhi
Vocal Critic
Joined: May 13, 2008
Posts: 6717
Location: Banned by Alex
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| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 1:58 am Post subject: Re: Are these AS traits?... |
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| willa wrote: | Ok, since I was diagnosed I've never really seen a therapist, I dont talk about it to really anyone and this board is probably the most social i've been regarding AS so I wanna ask a few questions regarding things I do that seem like I'm the only one who does them or has difficulty with them. Are they traits of AS or just bad memory.
Memory. I can not remember a phone number and never have been able to. If I dont write it down while being told its gone. I also took this ball aptitude test once (kinda a general test of skills that tells you what you'd be good at) and I got a 0 on the memory part where it consisted of a list of letters and numbers, then on the next page half were missing and you had 15 seconds to look at complete list and then fill out incomplete. After the 15 seconds I couldnt recall a single one. My counselor said 'hmm, musta been an error in the scoring machine' after seeing my fat zero. I just nodded and said 'ya, hm' knowing I actually couldnt remember even one 2 character sequence.
I can tell you the name and number classification of every galaxy considered to be in our local cluster (and a good amount more beyond that), i can tell you the working title and season/episode number of all 72 Futurama episodes. Recite to me a short sequence of numbers and I wont be able to tell you it 10 seconds later. |
I don't know that this is a diagnostic criteria. I have a strong associative memory, forming tangential lines of connectivity... but if things do not get strung within that web, I am very forgetful. Most frequently in your last area - time. Sequential learning, like music, is most likely the easiest format for me.
| Quote: | Recognition. I never recognize people's faces I havnt seen within the last few months. This includes family members. I seem to remember hair styles more than faces. For example I have two aunts that when I think of them I think of the silhouette their hair makes around their head. After moving out of home state and coming back a year later for holidays my two aunts had changed their hair style and I could not remember who was who. And infact, this is pretty similar with my whole family now that i'm thinking more about it. The men I seem to remember by their bodies, like my one cousin has a pear shapped body, fat stomach, small head, another uncle who sans a neck.
Basically I am constantly coming across people who know me and I do not know who they are and am fighting to recognize their voice or hair or something to a former job/classmate and I find out more and more they are people I worked with like just 10 months prior. |
I'm not good with faces or recognition; there are regular customers at my store that I do not recognize even after years. If I have a conversation or strong impression (or they look like someone else), then I will develop recollection. Even when I recognize a face, the name is frequently lost. Using facial geometry has helped me some in this regard.
| Quote: | The passing of time. Ok, today I had lunch with a friend who every other month or so we get together for lunch and catch up. Right now, it feels like yesterday, the last time we hooked up for lunch also feels like yesterday (and infact I can not tell you how long ago it was), I can tell you we've had lunch 14 times, and each restaurant, but I can not tell you any order what so ever, when the first time was, any day of the week, any amount of time between them etc. And this goes for just about everything. I remember what I did the last time I spent the day with my nephews, but I can not tell you how long ago it was. It also makes paying bills on time a very unlikely thing. Thank god for online bill pay, but my credit card and student loan I check probably 4 or 5 times a week out of habit to make sure i'm not past the due date.
So after typing this out I realize my memory seems f****. |
Time... I have little sense of time. Everything seems both immediate and distant in the past, completely tangible yet decidedly artificial, recreation of memory, setting and scenario. Often, I miss appointments and events because I have no sense of proximity. It makes interacting with others difficult.
Whether these are spectrum related, I would not venture to say; these seem more issues that evolve from a condition than symptoms, as I interpret them. At the same time, they are familiar to me. I do not have an official diagnosis - my son is diagnosed, and I meet criteria both presently and re-examining my childhood. The sense of time is very, very akin to what I experience, although we react to it differently.
M.
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Kelsi
Phoenix
Joined: Jun 23, 2007
Posts: 646
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 6:55 am Post subject: |
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It just occurred to me that the concept of time as linear is a very 'western' concept. In other cultures, it is not linear - for example the past, present, and future all co-exist.
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