Memory

Post Reply New Topic

Hey, so I don't know if anyone has any ideas about this. I have Asperger's syndrome, as well as anxiety and depression. I would consider myself a reasonably intelligent and curious person on a number of levels. However, I've been noticing more and more as I mature that I struggle immensely when it comes to retaining information and remembering things. I've never heard of this being associated with Asperger's syndrome, and though I've always considered my struggles with social anxiety to be at the forefront of what holds me back, I'm beginning to realize that this struggle with memory retention is almost a bigger limitation for me than anything.

I recognize in myself a deep desire to know and understand things. I'm an avid reader and I love learning new information about subjects that interest me. If I could I would love to be the sort of person who carries around with him a kind of encyclopedic knowledge about the world in which he lives. I have no trouble whatsoever in comprehending what I read, watch, or hear. However, once the information is received, it's as if it gets buried in some very deep recess in my mind that I can't access at will. Sometimes it might come back to me, or I might remember it if prompted. But for the most part it's like the information just disappears entirely, inhibiting my ability to learn and grow or even make intelligible conversation. I'll read a book, follow the plot or material perfectly, and then immediately afterward not be able to repeat back any semblance of what I've just read. As for learning, I seem to only succeed through frustrating repetition, which hinders my ability to find gainful employment in fast-paced and changing work environments. I can remember as a child being put very briefly in a special learning classroom but then very clearly not belonging there- I went on to eventually graduate college with honors and a 3.8 grade point average. This, I think, represents the strange dichotomy of feeling very smart and very stupid at the same time, and I would like to be able to find some kind of solution.

Does anyone have any experience with this in conjunction with Asperger's? Or, any idea of what it might be a sign of if by chance it's completely unrelated to Asperger's? It's frustrating to live with what basically seems like the temperament of an intellectual while simultaneously carrying around a head that's largely devoid of information.

You have described me perfectly! My long term memory is fairly good but day to day memory is appalling to the point that it has been a concern to me in the past.

Had my job for 2 years but took 2 weeks off for a holiday recently and struggled to remember what some of my colleagues looked like or what their names were the day before I returned.

How old are you? It is natural that memory and other brain abilities decrease with age.
People learn the best when they are kids - after that learning becomes harder and harder because brain is already developed and less flexible.
It can be prevented by constantly learning something new and having new experiences so brain doesn't get lazy and forget how to learn but you won't win against time. It's common sense - it isn't Aspie thing, it's human thing.
For example recently I realized my 50 year old NT mother is getting stupider and stupider last years and as for me(27) - I still have my abilities to learn fast but if I get lazy for a while it gets hard for me to get back in the learning rythm and have to focus at first.

Oh man, finally I've found someone with seemingly the same issue as me. I've thought about this a LOT, and tried to explain it to people to see if I can get some clarity, some answers, something to point me in the right direction to be able to possibly do something about it.

I've been told "you have to be interested in order to retain the information". But I can be absolutely fascinated and engaged with something, and even be excited to tell others about it...but then it's just sort of gone. Not really gone, because it's 'recognisable', just not 'recallable' without prompters.

It's for this reason that I love multiple choice questions in exams, but hate short answer or essay questions. With multiple choice, the answer is there for me to recognise. I know the information, but I often can't 'find' it within my brain when required.

I can't remember a time when I didn't have this problem. (That's not a memory issue though, haha. I mean that I think I've always been this way.)

Sorry to say I don't have a solution. I really hope your post reaches someone who has one though.

Some people with AS have difficulties with what is known as working memory - that part of mental recall that deals with immediate, short term memory and retaining knowledge from the task in hand. Yet they can remember events in the more distant past in great detail. The same thing is found in people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, the difference in their case being that they progressively lose working memory as dementia sets in.

Is it something you've recently noticed, or have you always been like this?

Oh yes I meant to mention, I've also had it suggested that I might have a working memory problem, but according to the WAIS-III I do not have such a problem. Is the WAIS considered a good method for testing working memory? That is, the Working Memory Index score.

I'm only 25, so I can't imagine it's anything age related. That's what scares me though, the fact that it's this bad at my age.

That does sound a lot like what I experience. Frustrating, isn't it? XD I've wondered whether it could be the "interest" thing too, but I can find something generally compelling and still not be able to retain it. I'm with you too on test questions. Multiple choice gives the effect of pulling back up that lost information, but with written answers I'm kind of left grasping at thin air for whatever I might have retained in the back of my mind.

Thank you, that sounds like it could be something along the lines of what I'm dealing with (although it's unfortunate if it's something I really can't do anything about.) I wondered too whether it might be something ADD/ADHD related, but I've never been diagnosed with either.

I'm pretty sure I've always been like this. I've really only taken note of it recently, but I think it's because I've grown more aware of how much trying to live my own adult life requires holding onto important information, which seems to be beyond me. I've always been prone to losing things quite easily, too.

I wouldn't say my long term memory is too clear either as far as that goes, but I do sometimes remember certain very specific details from the past that other people have forgotten about- like certain meaningful things people have said, for instance- even while other aspects of the past as a whole stay blurry and abstract in my head.

I used to have really good long term and short term memory until I guess I was a middle school student. These days I shall say that I have no short term memory lol and when it comes to long term memory, in order to memorize something valuable, I need to spend decent amount of time understanding what I need to learn, and then I must change what I've just understood into images one by one, and store in my brain. Also if the materials are too complicated I need mapping images to trigger all other images otherwise my effort of digging goes useless, it disappears in one day.

There is a possibility that your problem could be epilepsy. There is a type of seizure that causes a person to lose information stored in short term memory. This seizure can happen without convulsions.

You might want to get a referral from your GP to a neurologist for an EEG. Just to be safe.

I have terrible working memory issues as I get older, but vivid, set in stone long-term memories of most of my life before recently. I can describe as clear as yesterday things that happened to me forty years ago, but I can't tell you what I did yesterday without a certain amount of careful consideration and review, or having to consult my diary entry. It just escapes me. I fear I'm not even laying down memories properly anymore, something I used to do "in cement" in my mind.

The only thing with me is, I have some lingering PTSD from a mountain of stress that happened a few years ago, and I've felt a raised stress level ever since, so I don't know if in my own case it's just the raised stress, as that can affect memory retention. I think I'm a bundle of cortisol in recent years, because of a specific set of trauma.

You have gotten some great advice. Talking to your physician about your memory issues may be beneficial. The brain is very complex and your symptoms need to be evaluated.

I'm exactly the same.
Short and long term memory are terrible, but I do sometimes remember long term stuff that is not important at all!

Short term wise I'll even struggle to think of an everyday word when trying to tell someone something, in the end substituting something that doesn't quite fit, making me sound a bit odd!

I've put it down to a couple of things...
My brain is always working so hard just getting through the day, worrying about stuff, rehearsing and rehashing stuff all the time that I just think I lose the ability to put a sentence together!
I'm also a techie so always have a lot to learn and exams to study for etc making this a problem too...

Hello. I am diagnosed with a learning disability in two types of memory problems and an unrelated thing. I have working and immediate visual memory problems. I also wonder if this is a recent thing or not too. If it isn't it could be a learning disability, but the criteria for my learning disability was the Ontario Learning Disability Association's criteria and not the DSM-V. I also am confused about memory problems vs AD/HD - PI because a lot of the criteria is about forgetting stuff (misplace things, making careless mistakes, forgetting appointments etc.). So it could be back. I know that if you read the Wikipedia article about working memory and autism, there is some interesting facts there.

Hope this helps

If I remember correctly I was about 24-25 year old when I first realized learning and remembering some stuff is not as easy as in high school anymore. I also read some NT people wondering about it on normal forums.
Right now I don't see much difference between the 25 year old me and current me although I got slightly better because lots of things happened.
When I was 25 I was pretty much a 2 year long hikikomori - college graduate but tired of being unable to find a job. Last 3 years I managed to start and finish another school, get diagnosed, receive help, get better with people, go on trips and get motivated to look for a job(I still didn't find any, but I am under recruitment right now so there is hope) despite having anxiety(I often cry when I think about job searching, but I fight myself). And I feel better intellectually. Brain needs stimulation to work properly.

BTw. Right now I am similarly frustrated - I want to learn and see new things but I fail to deal with the social and organization part and anxiety kills me so I feel pretty much stuck. Like - I would like to move out from family house and start living on my own or see how it is to live with roommates but I don't know how to find a place to live and move out. I would like to find a job in different city but don't want to travel too long everyday and I... don't know how to find a place to live. Well. It seems to be the biggest problem. I just need to move out once and everything will be fine.