Can you imagine this?

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As to the myth of people with AS lacking imagination, it is because people misunderstand that it is 'social imagination' that we are impaired in. Our normal imaginations are entirely intact. If you look into research by people such as Tony Attwood, they describe how it's not unusual for AS children to become very immersed in an imaginative world.

Perhaps the example you gave depends on whether people are visual thinkers or verbal thinkers. I can imagine all of the above you describe. It is like I'm looking at it from above seeing myself and the other (faceless) people when I first imagine it, although if I persist I can also imagine myself being in my body sitting in the chair, this feels less natural. I'm not sure what others mean by describing first person and third person, perhaps they mean these perspectives. I doubt that what you are describing is in any way related to AS.

I feel much like rebbieh. I can'teven get the room. I can tell myself I need to see a room but I'll never actually see it. I can, however, pull up any memory I have. I think in strings that way like if I lose something I can watch all of my last interactions with the thing in my head once I start to remember. I'm similar with conversations, I talk them out to myself out loud. I can also recall incredibly small details pertaining to an agreement or conversation I've had down to every word, intonation, physical placement, activity the person was doing and what they were wearing. My boyfriend hates that because it makes me much more calculated in fights.

But even doing makeup people will say "picture her with Smokey eyes" or "think about how a frog looks" at which point I panic inside and just pretend to whomever asked me to "imagine"

I do that too. I would say I have a good memory and I can remember conversations, how I felt in certain situations, thoughts and things from many years ago (not all of it but a lot). My first memory, for example, is from when I was only about 9 months old (the next memory's from when I was 2 or 3). However, I find it very difficult to imagine things I've never experienced which I guess limits my imagination. Good to hear I'm not alone.

Not only can I imagine all four stages, but I also have full 3D and can rotate along any axis, zooming in and out at will.

After looking at photographs, I can mentally enter into the photo and look around in 3D.

Some people with AS closer to NVLD than classic autism will have trouble with visual-spatial tasks like this one. I don't, but I can imagine that some people might. Do you tend to be bad at, for example, drawing, handwriting, driving a car or riding a bicycle, judging distance and size?

I can't ride a bike, I find night-time driving difficult, and I have proprioception problems (judging the proximity of my body to the environment around me) as well as vestibular problems (not to mention executive function problems!) but I can do the task.

Can people have both AS and NVLD? Personally I'm bad at drawing, driving a car and judging distances, sizes, people's ages etc (at least in my opinion).

Last edited by rebbieh on 23 Feb 2013, 1:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

That was incredibly easy, I don't think this is an indicator of anything.

Interesting that both of you have exceptionally detailed memories, yet poor visualization skills. I wonder if one comes at the cost of the other. Too small of a sample size to say anything conclusive, of course. Are there any other people here who have the same trade-offs in these specific skill sets?

Conversely -- how many people here who have normal or exceptional visualization skills have a more vague memory for specific details?

Speaking for myself, I would say that my memory for details is about average while my visualization skills are also about average or possibly above average.

I can see a three dimensional room with three chairs in my mind. Two people walk in and sit in two of the chairs. when I put myself in the third chair the scene suddenly shifts. it is first person me sitting in the chair I am sitting in and the other two people are in this room too, but out in front of me. I can go back to the room inside my mind and see third person me sitting in the third chair but it doesn't seem like me. It just seems like someone who looks like me and is supposed to be me.

People with NVLD might have problems imagining what you described, but other autistic people wouldn't. I don't think that NTs would either.

I read a paper in which researchers interviewed a few people diagnosed with autism or AS, and found that the people described mostly visual thoughts.

I have a very verbatim and detailed long-term memory (my short-term memory for day-to-day things is crap at the moment due to stress overload) and I also had no problem visualising the description, I have a pretty photographic memory, and visual thinking style, so in my case it's not true.

I don't think I'd say my memories are exceptionally detailed. I've got a good memory but it might be average.



I don't know why but since most people here seem to have little or no problem with this task I now feel like there's something "wrong" with the way I think. Roosef and I can't be the only ones here thinking in words and having limited imagination, right? Do all/most people with ASD really think in pictures and easily imagine things? Also, I don't really understand what NVLD is. I understand it's similar to AS but is it on the spectrum?

I have read lots of people on wp post about visualization problems, like not being able to see this room with the chairs and people in their minds. NVLD is non-verbal learning disorder. Lack of visualization can be one of its problems. A major subgroup of people on the autism spectrum seem to have NVLD.

Can you have both AS and NVLD?

Yes, you can.

Here is more info about NVLD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonverbal_ ... g_disorder