Noticing Patterns

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I always figured that this was a personal eccentricity of mine, but maybe we've stumbled on to another aspie trait, a pattern nobody has noticed.

What I find interesting in connection with this is that so many of us, myself included, have so much difficulty recognizing faces, which would also seem to be a form of pattern recognition. Could this maybe be another case where aspie brain wiring is not really defective, just different?

Me too, I personally used to stare at the linoleum on my kitchen floor for hours when I was little.

I do notice patterns but its different form when I was very young. It used to really distract me and when I'd mention it to people, they'd look at me like I was out of my little tree. I'd often see things, faces and figures mostly in fabric like curtains and hanging clothes, it made me paranoid because I found it almost impossible to avoid seeing them in the shadows or alone at night in bed.

I found I had to block out noticing these things for the most part but I still follow them with my eyes sometimes, especially things like wallpaper, wall textures, linoleum, textured toilet paper, things that my eyes can't really aviod unless I close them.

Sometimes I'll look at a list of things (dates, anything with numbers that refer to one of my interests) and suspect there is a pattern mathematically and then try to figure out what it is on paper. Pearl Jam setlists for example.

i'm always seeing patterns, or seeking them. frustrates my cousin (she's an art teacher in training) whenever we look at artwork and i try to find a pattern or fit it into some pattern. she thinks i should just let it -be-!

i also am very interested in people, i don't really like them or dealing with them, but i love observing them, their conversations, wonder about their motivations and how life has led them to who they are. i have been searching for a 'pattern' (no scientific basis/structure though) and am still collecting random bits of info from a whole lotta sources.

i enjoy crafts like knitting, crochet, tatting and beading. the repetitiveness calms me. but i cannot seem to tolerate freeform crafts. symmetry is very important to me.

heh i used to look at something and see a face or some kind picture in everyday things

Same here, on both counts!

Krex, I'm like you in that I seem to get much more out of LSD than the people I'm tripping with! I particularly love being out in nature when tripping and seeing the patterns in plants. I also think marijuana affects me differently to most.

I spend hours making kaleidoscopic patterns on the computer and I see patterns everywhere. I am obsessed with symmetry and visual perfection. I love fractals, Fibonacci numbers, Golden Section etc. And yes, people often look at me funny because I've stopped to closely examine a plant or something!

Maybe he is jealous of your ability. I would think the ability to see these patterns/objects would enhance the creative process?

Hehe I don't know, none of these patterns ever make sense. I have seen much weirder. Maybe I should start writing it down for a laugh.

I tend to notice details in things more often than patterns, but always see beauty in just about anything, that others don't. I often have had hands waved in front of my eyes because I am staring at things.

haha nono she says i think too much into the meaning of things, or what i think the artist is trying to do, or where the influences are from. she says art can often be enjoyed -as is- and not necessarily have personal meanings attached to it.

i still don't get it though. maybe that's why i'm not the art-teacher to-be! and i love her to bits because she just -lets me be me- even if i do frustrate her alot

That's cool. I typed he instead of she by accident, I'm sorry.

Hmm, hmmm... on-topic comment. Okay, I see a demonic looking pac-man with an aura of flames. Damn I wish I could draw some of this stuff >.<. But I could learn.

Does anyone ever look at the intersection of two branches, and notice faces looking back at you? I always thought I was hallucinating.

Everywhere

I loved mushrooms, and hard, hard stoning for this reason - both amplify the effect, but the sky is the most beautiful thing in the world, probably for this very reason.

During the World Cup this year I'd watch Argentina's matches, but when I got bored I'd start looking at the geometric shapes formed with the players as their vertices (are they called that?). They changed all the time; it was cool.

I also tend to stare at things like wooden doors/concrete floors when I zone out, scanning the patterns with my eyes, but I don't really see them (well, I don't think about them or notice them consciously). It's just something my eyes do by themselves.

Does anyone else "Zonk out" as I call out? I mean, you're not looking for a pattern, but you just seem to have fallen asleep with your eyes open. It takes someone to poke me or yell at me to get me out of it.

Yep, I do. I'm always scared that it might happen if I took up driving again. I did it more when I was younger, but it still happens. Mostly when I'm in deep thought, which can happen any time I'm 'board' (my senses are deprived).

The shadow from the control on my bathroom radiator at a certain time of day makes a nice squirrel. And there used to be a finch or sparrow on the old cork floor tiles that were in there. One of the patterns on a floral wallpaper I had in the bedroom used to quite upset me because it looked like a small dead animal of some kind lying on its back. Hmm... I seem to see animals in things more than faces.

I'd like to do the inkblot test.