Memory and asd

Post Reply New Topic

Its probably silly to use a movie as an example but in rain man the autistic character is asked about the many books he's read, but cannot answer (maybe due to memory)

Is this a real symptom? do those with asd read well but are unable to recall the story or explain it?

Yes, that could, indeed, happen. But not to an absolute degree, usually.

I might read something, and not comprehend the content, or remember the content, as much as a typical person might comprehend or remember.

There might be people who read very well, and might remember the content----but might not comprehend the material, or be able to use critical thinking skills to assess the material.

Reading ability varies enormously among autistic people, and it seems that both extremes of ability are more common for autistic people - for example; dyslexia is relatively more common, but at the same time, many autistic children are hyperlexic (there is some debate about whether hyperlexia is exclusively found among autistic people.)

I fit the hyperlexic category very well - I taught myself to read long before starting school, with very little instruction. However, while my spelling, vocabulary, grammar, etc. are pretty good, I often find that the meaning doesn't sink into my head at all. It isn't that I don't remember - I can quite often recall word-for-word quotes very accurately - it's that I never even made a memory of the meaning, because I didn't recognise the meaning in the first place. This struggle to find the meaning is common for hyperlexics, and can lead to problems at school, because teachers are fooled by our ability to read so fluently - they often assume that we also understood the meaning when actually we didn't, so are confused about why we can't answer questions about what we've read.

It is the working memory that is generally impaired (relatively) in autists. In my case, my working memory is the lowest index on my IQ score (115), the others being in the 120s and 30s; this is a case in point.

^ I wonder, though; is it that working memory is impaired, or that additional cognitive processes place more demand upon it? (which are not mutually exclusive, of course.) When I think of what my mind is up to when I'm trying to mask my autistic traits; the constant analysis of social cues which I'm having to consciously "translate"; suppressing my reactions to unfiltered sensory stimuli; and so on, it seems that my working memory might have a lot more to do than if my social understanding were more instinctive and my sensory filters were more effective.

Hyperlexia is interesting. I'd say I was hyperlexic as a child but not anymore. (If that's even a thing.) I began reading the same time I began speaking, when I was 2. Some of my first spoken words were read off of signs. But now I can't remember new words or alphabets unless I drill them multiple times per day. Even easy ones.

Memory. Hooooooo boy. Mine has gone downhill the past few years. And I'm only 21, so who knows what's causing it. I get enough sleep. I eat normally. But I digress. Actually, I started taking hormonal birth control when I was 18 to regulate my periods and PCOS symptoms, so perhaps that had something to do with it? Only thing I can think of that changed. DIGRESSING!

My working memory sucks.

I definitely do this with reading: I can read and really enjoy it (for fiction) of feel the east the pieces fit together (for nonfiction) but come away without a critical sense of the structure. I do this with movies, too: I might love watching them, but it's pretty rare that I can come back and repeat the plot.

It baffles me how someone can recall the plot of a novel or movie months/years after they've read/watched it.

Then again you could probably hide 100 of my books in a book shop and I would eventually find them all, and not pick any that weren't mine.

Memory is a funny thing.

Most people actually remember the plot?? Whoa, I never thought about it. I need to watch a movie or to read a book several times if I want to remember the plot.

My working memory is bad. It's clearly an overload issue and if I am hyperfocused it gets radically better. My short-term memory is horrible, too. If somebody asks me what I did yesterday, I don't probably remember.

I have an incredible memory for just about anything I've read, and I read very quickly. This reminds me of Temple Grandin's 3 types of autistics theory wherein some are very good at one type of thinking but incredibly poor at another. Temple Grandin characterized herself as a visual thinker who couldn't do math. I would probably fit into her verbal thinker as my deficiencies seem to be in the visual and I'm very good with words.