Patterns

Post Reply New Topic

I was reading something about Aspies spotting patterns everywhere... can anyone give me an example of this? I don't quite know what they mean, and it's bugging me that I don't know whether I do it or not!

Often if you look at carpets you can see if the pattern is symmetrical, and you look down the carpet and see the pattern is in lines, often in more than one direction. If your in a theatre you may check out the lights and see that they are in a specific way. Or check out wall paper and see if 2 sheets, side by side line up, with tiles you see if they were laid in a certain pattern or just randomly. Within the actual tiles you may see if the patterns themselves are similar among the tiles, and how often those tiles occur etc etc

Those kind of patterns do strange things to my head sometimes. Those public areas that have the brickwork pavements arrange in herringbone patterns and the like especially. As I walk across them, I...

There was then a long pause - "how the [naughty words] do I describe that sensation!"

It distinctly feels like it is inside my head, but its still a completely physical sensation, not a visual distortion of any kind - as if I can feel the pattern rippling through my brain cells in some kind of way. If I change direction or speed, the sensation changes along with it. Even if I try saying it again, I won't ever be satisfied that I've described it succinctly to anyone (I've only mentioned it to very few people before now.) I'm guessing some kind of visual/proprioception synaesthesia - whatever it is, it is quite distinct from any of my other sensory sensitivities. It can get a bit disorienting sometimes - I'll find it hard to judge how far away the floor is.

I'm guessing your not familiar with the road map test?

It's normally used exclusively on children, but theoretically it should work on adults.

You give them a road map and a pen, and tell them to draw out any pictures that they see.

Depending on the child in question, usually an example or two has to be shown to them.
Note: Shown, not given, it must be demonstrated.

I know that feeling, Trogluddite. I can not describe it any better though.

f*****g CAPTCHA!! !! !

I love patterns. I hate patterns. When they click, it's nice. But things like not matching up the seams and such really but the crap outta me.

I also hate certain patterns because it really messes with my depth perception. Floors are the worst because if the coloring is right, I will think an indentation or step down is there. Twisted my ankle a bit once because I thought the floor was a different level than it really was.

@ Knofskia and zkydz
That's my little "Eureka" moment of the day, thanks for posting. My frustration at trying to describe it to people has led me to keep that one a secret for a very long time - it's just easier to tell people I get vertigo (which is not a lie).

I hadn't heard of the map test before. Without actually drawing on them, I do exactly that all the time (when I'm not looking for place names that make me giggle, anyway) - I can lose hours in a good map finding patterns and images. I also love looking at old wooden furniture, finding images in the grain of the wood, and noticing the matches in the grain patterns where the same piece of timber has been used to create several parts.

When I used to paint abstract art, I quite often would start a painting by looking for flaws in the canvas, random brush-strokes in the primer, dents where I'd knocked to canvas over - any shape that was suggestive of what the first few strokes should be.

This happens to me quite a bit. Be it flooring, wallpaper, ceilings, cracks in paint, etc., my mind tries to find a pattern in them somehow. I can remember looking up at a cracked painted ceiling as a kid and saying out loud what each part reminded me of.

Totally me and I totally relate. I love geometric patterns, but when something doesn't line up or something is out of sequence it bothers me to no end, and I will often fix it if i am able.

I have been known to adjust blinds in other peoples homes so they are at the same level. (especially when the placement is symmetrical, as in there is a blind on the left and right hand side of room)

I'm terrified of touching things in other people's homes. I just sit there and let it drive me crazy. And, people wonder why I'm tense all the time. There is just so much that I bury and it's finally taking its toll on me.

And, nobody understands that that stuff, that's unimportant to them, really, deeply affects me.

^^Been there too.

For me, it's usually one of two things. I don't like being in a room with the doors open - I can't stop looking to see if someone is coming, and I get even more nervous if the door is out of sight but I know it's open. The other one is people who insist on lots of background noise - TV blaring away with no-one watching it, a couple of sources of music playing different songs, that kind of thing.

I could quite happily play for hours re-arranging the things on someone's coffee table if I dared to do it. Crooked piles of books and magazines are particularly distracting.

But I'm so private and protective about my own little sanctuary that I haven't the heart to ask anyone else to change theirs.

I think that may be one of the reasons I don't like messing with other people's things. I am so particular about things that I don't want to do that to other people.

I do have to have some sort of background noise at play to drown out the other noises that I would alert on. And, in the quiet, I hear weird things. But it's only the one source. And if I'm concentrating, I don't hear it anyway.

Not quite voices. More like murmuring sounds. I've actually gotten up to investigate. When I am down south with the family, open doors don't bother me as long as there is a screen door there. But in NYC, I will have my door closed and locked at all times.

Once, I was discussing organization with a friend of my sister. It came up that I am very organized. The person gave me permission, so I did "happily play for hours re-arranging the things on their coffee table", Trogluddite.

oddly enough, my own work spaces are always described as messy even though I know where everything is. But, my organizational skills have gone out the window in the last year.

My work is getting more disorganized and having trouble finding things now. That is very distressing.

Do NTs ever automatically find patterns like this?

Things like pareidolia (seeing faces in things) are very common for people of any neurology. There seems to be fair bit of evidence that autistic people are more inclined to notice small details and patterns while only later seeing the context, whereas it's more typical to identify the overall picture first, then fill in the details as needed. But even that is far from being a hard and fast rule.

@Knofskia
I really should pluck up the courage to ask if I can play with people's stuff.

I find the geometric perfection that I like is useful to people sometimes - I'm great at packing assorted things into a rucksac or boot (trunk) of a car, and I do like alphabetising stuff (not necessarily having things always alphabetical, just the process of doing it.)

With most things, my organisation is lousy though. My work and home spaces are like zkydz described - random heaps of stuff all over the place, but with an uncanny ability to find most of the important things!