Special (Aspie) Skills

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I think my left and right halves of brain talk directly with each other, do you find this? ... and perhaps I/We have different skills to a NT?
For example, I am both left right handed.
I think visually. Able to rotate 3D technical images in my head faster than a computer and have an 'instant zoom' feature - ideal for my technical inventions. Creativity of right brain mixed with logic of left brain perhaps?
What 'skills' have you that may (or may not) confirm or add to this theory? No scientific reason for this question, just a thought I had...

I don't have any of those skills & am actually weaker in those areas. I don't feel I got any Aspie strengths, skills, talents, or abilities.

I have an eidetic memory and can do difficult cryptograms within minutes. I can also approach problems laterally and have a keen sense of instinct. I can take a 'mental photograph' of my surroundings at any given time...perfect for when people say; 'have you seen where I put......?'

I don't know what part of my brain is responsible, but all I know is that I really don't have to think about it at all...it just happens.

Yes, I find lateral thinking easy too and is part of my 'normal mode'. I can use the photo-memory 'thing' on charts, tables and pictures in books, I'm not sure if I could use it on surroundings as I usually 'switch off' when confronted with too many things; non-observant mode.

I am however, totally useless at body language (sending or receiving) and all the usual social communication things!

I don't get to do anything cool like that. People tell me I've got a good memory, but I haven't been able to use it for academic ends.

If I think in a special way, I can make this little rumbly sound in my brain that only I can hear. It give me mental images of avalanches. It feels a bit gross, and I don't think its healthy. One day I might find a use for inducing auditory hallucinations, but I doubt it.

Another thing I can do imagine a shiver going down my spine, and make myself feel slightly colder. When I was younger I could induce goosebumps on an already coldish day. This is probably something to do with sensory thresholds for detecting heat, or maybe I've just deluded myself with confirmation bias. I wouldn't take the above two paragraphs seriously if I hadn't experienced them.

I sometimes scratch my neck and palms excitedly, when I'm in not in public. The muscle memory comes in handy during minigames where you need to press a button as much as you can within a limited timeframe. Like the drinking game in the Millenial Fair in Chrono Trigger. But maybe I'd be able to do that anyway if I wasn't autistic.

Overall I sort of look at it in the bigger picture if anything else. I realize a lot of my own strengths and take full advantage of them. I take advantage of my willingness (and honestly, enjoyment) to read encyclopedic pages of new information, for example. I don't really consider them "aspie" skills. They're just skills. I always felt looking at them "because of AS" was a shallow way of thinking.

I have a photographic memory, but I don't know if that's an ASD thing. When I was in elementary school, and was taking a spelling test, I could actually see my spelling book lying open on the kitchen table, the night before, and see all of the words, very clearly----aced the test, every time.

I also think in video----I've heard that IS an ASD thing----but, it's not really ever served me any purpose, because when I tell someone how, exactly, something happened, they don't believe me, or trust that someone would have a memory, like that.

I think the exact same way when it comes to designing electronic circuits as well as looking at, and solving other complex problems in the world. They have a name for this thinking process. It's called a "swimming theater.", in that you are not just an observer in a control room of your imagination, but you become a part of, or immerse yourself in, the experience or creation in your imagination. Plus, you have almost god-like control over it.

Another good example of a swimming theater is, imagine that you're a painter and imagine you're painting a picture in your head. But instead of just limiting yourself to standing in front of the canvas and holding the paintbrush (limiting your imagination to the constants of reality.). You become the paintbrush, you go playing in the paint and mix colors, just like a kid playing in the mud. Then you fly over to the canvas and slide your paint covered body on the canvas like a kid going down a slip-n-slide. You just don't observed it and remote control it, you become it, you immerse yourself in it, you feel it. If you get where I'm coming from.

Now if we could come up with some kind of telepathic user interface to link Photoshop or AutoCAD to this. HOLY COW! what amazing things we could do with something like that. But on the downside, I would be concern about privacy. I think we have a few nasty things in our heads that we don't want getting out.

That is a very good name for it, "Swimming Theatre" -we spell theater differently here;-)

It is easy to 'dive' through the image.

Do you think there are many who can do this? I have always been able to do this for as long as I can remember. It has only been recently that I realise nobody else that I know can actually do it...
... and yes, if you could display this on a screen (or video it) it would be simply incredible:-)

I have this type of mental thought imaging process, but I try to use it mostly at a very small scale, like molecular level (or below) when working in my field of science. It allows me to see how the potential properties may change as I redesign the structure by swapping out different components within the material(s) of a particular device that I am wanting to build. It also gives me an advantage in determining how the electronic communication will be within molecules, without first needing to due spectroscopy on them. As for a limit, I can easily visualize below sub-atomic level to see what makes up matter itself (btw: string theory is wrong on some things). I use it all the time when I am in very boring talks or meetings to keep my mind active.

As for how many people think with these image processing methods, I have no idea but it is probably fairly rare overall. When I explain how I can visualize matter this way in my mind to others in my field, I mostly get blank stares or "I don't believe you" responses. The way that they "properly design" a new molecule in their research is to find a starting material structure in the known literature, draw it on a piece of paper and then go through the process of putting in new parts to see what might work (which takes a much longer time to do). They cannot understand why I do not need a piece of paper to do this process. I usually end up seeing the product structure much faster than they do "their" way if we are after the same materials.

A photographic memory doesn't actually exist; it's called eidetic memory and it's very very rare and unlikely for anyone over about 14 to have. (Children have shown to lose the ability around puberty.) I believe what you described is similar to what others on the thread have described: thinking visually, which is pretty common already, but some do believe it's more common for those of us with ASDs. (By the way, my mother has described using the same ability on tests! lol.)

Don't quote me on this. But I really think that the "Swimming theater" talent may be an aspie thing. If you think about it. It's an essential tool for the comprehension, analysis and the process of abstract things. and most aspies are good in this area. My swimming theater is an integral part of my personality and I just can't imagine myself without it.

I think that you are most likely correct on this. In my reply above, I should have said that it is rare overall in the entire population (as that is what I was trying to say). Among Aspies, it probably is not rare at all to have it in varying degrees. Quite a few of the scientists that I asked are likely also Aspies (I did not ask them if they were, I only suspect them to be), yet most did not think using the "Swimming theater" method. I should say that I did this before my self-diagnosis, I was just curious if my fellow workers thought the same way that I did when working on projects. It surprised me a bit that they did not.

Your statement contradicts what my Neuroscience training stated.
Can you provide any sources to corroborate the idea that eidetic memory is lost around puberty?
I do not believe that to be the case.

Well, can I ask when you graduated? When you were in school, were you also taught about the correlation between hyperthymesia and OCD? Research changes, but I don't think this is new? I could be wrong though. I'm studying psychology and neuroscience right now and that's what seems to be the scientific census now, because it's what's being taught/trained: that eidetic memory is basically only found in pre-adolescent children; thus it's lost sometime during childhood between the onset of puberty, but it certainly seems to be gone before puberty though, since it hasn't been found in adolescent children; as one of my textbooks put it, "...If you're reading this book as a high school or college student, you almost certainly have iconic memory but not eidetic images." Perhaps I should've stated it differently though? I meant that research has shown that it's gone by that age (adolescence).

You may want to look into Adam Searleman (a professor of psychology at St. Lawrence University in New York). I can't link you to anything, because there's not much to link about eidetic imagery in general (unless you just want articles with comments), so you'll have to read his textbook. It's kind of old, but it's still relevant and he's still knowledgeable about eidetic imagery. For more recent research, you should also read Neath and Surprenant Human Memory (2nd edition, 2003). One of my textbooks cited it for information about pre-adolescent children and eidetic memory.

Believe it or not, it's up to you (and I personally am the same way - I don't believe anything unless I've read it/been taught it), but if you have contacts at your old university, maybe you could ask them if there's any reading they could suggest to you. If you find anything new, please report back because I'd love to read some new material. This is something I'm personally planning to do my own research on; there doesn't seem to be much published research about it, presumably because it's so rare.

Last edited by Jezebel on 25 Jan 2015, 10:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Last edited by Campin_Cat on 25 Jan 2015, 10:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.