Short Term Memory

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It is said the average person is able to hold about 7 items in their short term memory. Which last about 7 secs with out rehearsal. As an aspie I calculated my STM to be able to hold only 1 or 2 things at a time. For instance if I go down stairs to check the wash and grab something from the freezer I will more often than not forget the thing in the freezer or the wash.

Any comments are such are welcomed. I just enjoy expressing my many passing ideas.

Oh yeah, I ....er....what were you saying?

I lost a game of Memory once with this guy:

I have the same issue. I end up going back and forth 5 or 6 times to get everything when I go upstairs to bed.

I have the same problem. Luckily, I recently read the following article and discovered it is the case with me:

http://digitaljournal.com/article/314753

Being aware of what causes memory lapses has helped me deal with them better.

Yep, exact same problem. I've worked out various tricks, like if I go to the pantry for a bottle of water I take the current empty bottle with me.

Anyone ever been reading a web page and then have a thought to google something and when the new tab/window pops up you forget what you were going to search for? I do that constantly.

The article about doorways is interesting. I wonder if rather than being specifically about doorways if it's more generally about a 'change of context/milleu.' Like with the google example, as soon as the old context (web page) is gone I get mentally stranded in limbo for a little while. And maybe trouble with changes of context are what causes a desire/need for routine? If your breakfast cereal is in a different bowl one morning then the context for your whole day is lost?

Also, I recall that people w/Parkinson's have difficulty walking through doorways or crossing thresholds. And I think mental context-shifting is also affected. And some people w/ASD develop a Parkinson's-like condition and also develop that. Not sure if there's a connection but it interesting to wonder.

Just some random thoughts.

I have walked into a room for something and forgotten what I was there for on occasion but memory hasn't really been a problem for me. It's getting worse as I get older, though, but that may be another thing entirely.

When you've got ADHD you don't need to walk through a doorway to forget something. Just sit there with your keys in your hand and then think 'where did I put my keys again?"

Short term memory is stored in the pre-frontal cortex, where many ASD and ADHD problems originate from. The lack of connectivity that is. And probably the lack of certain neurotransmitters firing.

I take medication to remember stuff.

I have laughably awful long and short term memory, and have all my life. I'm always running late to appointments because I forget they were scheduled, I walk into a room and forget what I wanted to do there, I've pushed back my morning routine by ten minutes to allow for the certitude that I'll forget something, and I struggle to remember names and faces.

But ask me a question about I book I read five years ago, the current political climate, or any of my other interests and I will keep talking for as long as you can sit there and listen.

Such is life of an Aspie. It's just one of those things that make us the quirky individuals we are.

Yes, I struggle with this. Only being able to keep 1 to 2 things in my head at a time can be such a chore, especially when having to write research papers. It takes much more energy and effort, but I tend to have better analysis in my papers than my peers because of it. It just takes me 2 to 3 times as long. I've tried keeping a planner but I always forget where I put it or keep it apart of routine, to no avail.

I think the benefit of this kind of thinking is best for a bottom-up approach and not a top-down, at least in my experience. It allows me to hone in on the root of a problem, so I can make connections versus, seeing the connections and finding the root. I am very good at semantically clustering information though. When it comes to categorizing information, so long as it is already known to me, I am superior. I make connections very quickly between things that have similarities. The part that is draining/taxing is that I make so many connections that it is hard to keep up with my thoughts, wherein I lose important thoughts quickly if I don't keep a journal with me during researching, or when I am engrossed in a topic. I think this contributed to a very fast typing speed. I had to type faster and faster in order to keep at the level of my thoughts. This is why prior to the advent of computer tech in classrooms I struggled with handwriting essays etc. Hands are too slow !