Do you learn mostly by rote memorization?

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I rely on reasoning and critical thinking. If I don't know why something is what it is, it is very likely I will forget/not understand it. I have to know every process and detail, or else it won't make sense. Which makes learning languages harder, because I have to learn everything "manually", while other people learn and use it with intuition. So, often it's hard for me to learn new words, even in my native language, English.

I can't learn by rote. I have to understand something very well before it lodges itself in my memory. I have to develop a concept of it in my mind, and relate it to other concepts in such a way that it has meaning to me. If the concept is incomplete, uninteresting, or does not cohere with my existing understanding of things, I fail to attach significance to it and it is lost.

I can adapt and evolve my understanding of things, and modify existing concepts in a way that allows for the retention of a new concept, but there has to be sufficient reason to do so. That can be triggered in a number of ways, but it has to happen somehow.

I always read these descriptions of Aspies. They like to memorize model numbers of widgets, bus routes in cities they've never been to, and birthdays of presidents. That's not me.... I can't remember insignificant streams of data. But if I understand the idea of something, it will never leave me.

Critical thinking is the way to go. My short-term memory is so bad that unless I have a darned good reason to hang on to something (it's interesting to me, or it teaches me a new skill, or something) it usually drops straight out of my head. When I do have to rote-memorize something, it consists of repeating the factoid over and over, then testing myself by seeing if I can remember what it was ten to thirty minutes later (that's how fast it drops - if I remember it by then, I'm probably good).

Sheesh, my mother bought her cell phone years ago and I still haven't memorized the phone number, because I haven't had to call it very often. (The Job Corps office number, on the other hand...)

I use neither. Rote memorization is attempted memorization through repeated exposure. I have an eidetic memory, and learn by a single exposure. Most of the stuff I learn, I don't understand until I learn enough on the topic to put things together as a whole, then almost instantly I'm an expert on the topic.

My ability with rote memorisation doesn't serve me well in the long term. I'm generally more able to properly absorb information if I can give an explanation as to how it might be applied, or if I can analyse it as part of a broader concept.

This is the only way i can learn!

Unfortunately, I learn by rote memorization.

This is also true of NVLD, and I probably fit that description better.

Even before I knew anything about ANYTHING, years ago, people would say I was "scary smart" and I would tell them that I wasn't and just had a really good memory.

lol. I can use critical thinking and logic, it's not difficult. but I will often neglect logic and critical thinking in favor of rote memorization of facts when left to my own devices.

No.