Looking for an object when it's right in front of you

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Yep. I have a small basket where I keep my keys, wallet and other things. The point is that if I can't find my keys then I can't leave without my wallet, shopping list, etc.

And whenever the supermarket moves things around I end up scanning back and forth across the shelves and missing what I was looking for at least 3-4 times.

I memorize when things are, at home and in store locations. If they are moved, then I am lost.

Yeah, I hate this sort of thing. I have a LOT of toothpaste, for example, because I'd just rather buy a new tube.

I used to be SO good at finding things on store shelves, etc...

Verdandi,

Actually, many say that it you have a HARD time remembering or finding something, you should try REAL hard, and just relax. It is surprising how often it works.

In my defense though, I recently went to a store. The guy said he KNEW the company! ALL their products have a bright metalic orange container. It is unique among perhaps 99.999% of all other products in its industry! So I wanted a particular product. I had to have him direct me to the area. I found it INSTANTLY, while he struggled to search for it. That orange container stood out over the blue and white of most of the products.

I USED to have the same luck by reading. NOW, I try to find the color, and then go from there.

Yeah this happens to me sometimes. When the object is pointed out to me or I find it it I often find myself very confused as to how I could have missed it. On the other hand you can ask me about any geographic location in the world and I know it like the back of my hand.

this happens to me a lot also. It can be embarrassing!
When I was younger I was taught the "Pooka" ritual to help find lost objects. Apparently a "pooka" is some sort of Irish spirit or faery that steals small objects and hides them. So when something goes missing, you are supposed to say 3 times, " Oh Pooka, please help me find my ______ that has gone lost." Then you are supposed to start looking for the lost thing again. It always helped me relax, thinking some faery would help me find the lost object and usually when I relaxed, I would spot it right in front of me in plain sight. Although when I was very young, I swore that the faery had magically returned it.

I hate it when they rearrange the grocery store shelves every few months to get people to buy more. It totally screws up my efficient system for shopping, as does going to a different store. My husband doesn't get why this upsets me and will shop wherever the best sales are that week.

My wife is the master of where all things are. I would have surely got lost in the forest if I was a Neanderthral. Anyone else have the experience of looking for your keys or something small like an inkpen and not realizing it was in your left hand. Never happens with the right hand. I didn't notice it happening until I got into my forties.

I don't know about in my hand but I have gone looking for my cellphone only to realize 10 min later that it's been in my pocket the whole time

both my asd kids do this, my oldest is really bad at finding things. his is also compounded by not processing verbal directions well, so he will end up in the completely wrong place looking for an item he cant find anyway. its frustrating at times, but we usually just view it humorously. my youngest really responds to colors or shapes, so if we describe the physical properties of the item, he finds it a lot faster. my 7 yr old NT on the other hand can find a pin in a stack of needles.

at christmas time, we used to go present shopping with our oldest, he never even noticed what was in the cart. we never had to hide things from him, he simply didnt notice them. we can almost do the same with our youngest, we just bury them under other stuff in the cart. this past christmas tho we brought a few unwrapped toy presents home, and at dinner, my NT child spotted them behind him sitting on the washing machine way up on top of a stack of boxes from across the room.

my SO can find things ok, not great but not horrible. however he never notices things on the floor under his feet, so he trips all the time. once he didnt notice the 45 lb 4 yr old sitting on the floor and ended up tripping and falling over him =)

Its called brain jungle dude. ok and yes, its awful.

Happens to me ALL the time!

Is THIS an Aspie thing or something else?

Adding Brain Jungle to the new Aspie dictionary.

I'd say this is the best descriptor of it yet.

That's exactly it.

My husband does this too but he says everyone does it. Is there a difference between us doing it than non spectrum people?

I think the threshold limit would the only difference between it and ordinary folk. Anyone overloaded will not process the "visual information," but the impairment threshold is much lower here ( I believe). My "phenomenon" in the posted think is very odd, due to the fact that I witnessed the missing object build from the bottom up in a few seconds. It materialized only when I relaxed. Up front it would seem to resemble brain damage.

I do it all the time especially if I feel pressured. I also used to lose a lot of stuff (cameras, watches, etc.) when I was younger.

haha. well, I feel better. Yesterday my NT partner asked me to call his cell phone so he could find it. It was a cold day and he had his hands in his pockets, hunched up shoulders. I called it and his pocket started ringing- he literally was holding it in his cold hand and had forgotten.

I lost my table at work. I have no idea how long I was *looking* towards my section before finally *seeing* that there were people there. I'd stopped expecting the table to be sat - just the booths beyond it, if anything. So it stopped existing for me.

That one took a lot of fast talking.