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Why do autistic people talk to themselves?

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PerfectlyDarkTails
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02 Dec 2023, 7:20 pm

It can help my memory if i say something rather than think it.


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TheRealSocialOutcast
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02 Dec 2023, 8:16 pm

I do this every single day, it could be related to co-morbid adhd. We want to talk a lot but because we are too shy to talk and have no friends we end up talking to ourselves.



auntblabby
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03 Dec 2023, 12:04 am

ToughDiamond wrote:
auntblabby wrote:
ToughDiamond wrote:
auntblabby wrote:
CockneyRebel wrote:
I'm the only person who will listen to me apart from my psychiatrist.

you took the words right outta my mouth! for most of my life nobody would listen to me or they would misconstrue me to the point where i wished they just didn't hear me at all.

Good communication is hard, I think. And even when it's done right, it turns out the listener didn't want to hear it. But it's much easier with oneself. To me, most things I say are interesting, at the time at least, and I usually understand what I've said to myself very well.

my problem is that i get crossed wires fairly often and will substitute the most wrong word [usually something i just heard somebody say] for the right word in a sentence, often that ends up very awkwardly.

Mrs. ToughDiamond does that a lot. Me, I just forget the word I need, and grind to a halt.

i'm sure glad i'm not the only one. embarrassing. :oops:



ToughDiamond
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03 Dec 2023, 10:15 am

auntblabby wrote:
ToughDiamond wrote:
auntblabby wrote:
my problem is that i get crossed wires fairly often and will substitute the most wrong word [usually something i just heard somebody say] for the right word in a sentence, often that ends up very awkwardly.

Mrs. ToughDiamond does that a lot. Me, I just forget the word I need, and grind to a halt.

i'm sure glad i'm not the only one. embarrassing. :oops:

She also was glad to hear that she wasn't the only one. AFAIK she doesn't substitute a word she's just heard somebody say, it seems to be just a random word, but I'll try to find out more. I did notice that sometimes when I'm talking to myself, I can get momentarily distracted by what I'm doing at the time, and then my mind goes rather blank, and rather than give myself time to get it right, I'll desperately paste in a whole string from something I just heard or read, so you're not quite alone in that respect either. I guess the mechanism behind it is that because the right thing isn't found in the short-term memory, a bit of material that is found there gets used instead. Rather like a Wal-Mart grocery substitution for home delivery - "we didn't have spinach so here's a quart of Great Value cola."



auntblabby
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03 Dec 2023, 9:35 pm

ToughDiamond wrote:
auntblabby wrote:
ToughDiamond wrote:
auntblabby wrote:
my problem is that i get crossed wires fairly often and will substitute the most wrong word [usually something i just heard somebody say] for the right word in a sentence, often that ends up very awkwardly.

Mrs. ToughDiamond does that a lot. Me, I just forget the word I need, and grind to a halt.

i'm sure glad i'm not the only one. embarrassing. :oops:

She also was glad to hear that she wasn't the only one. AFAIK she doesn't substitute a word she's just heard somebody say, it seems to be just a random word, but I'll try to find out more. I did notice that sometimes when I'm talking to myself, I can get momentarily distracted by what I'm doing at the time, and then my mind goes rather blank, and rather than give myself time to get it right, I'll desperately paste in a whole string from something I just heard or read, so you're not quite alone in that respect either. I guess the mechanism behind it is that because the right thing isn't found in the short-term memory, a bit of material that is found there gets used instead. Rather like a Wal-Mart grocery substitution for home delivery - "we didn't have spinach so here's a quart of Great Value cola."

so i guess this phenomenon is just a part of information theory in general.



ToughDiamond
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04 Dec 2023, 9:02 am

auntblabby wrote:
ToughDiamond wrote:
She also was glad to hear that she wasn't the only one. AFAIK she doesn't substitute a word she's just heard somebody say, it seems to be just a random word, but I'll try to find out more. I did notice that sometimes when I'm talking to myself, I can get momentarily distracted by what I'm doing at the time, and then my mind goes rather blank, and rather than give myself time to get it right, I'll desperately paste in a whole string from something I just heard or read, so you're not quite alone in that respect either. I guess the mechanism behind it is that because the right thing isn't found in the short-term memory, a bit of material that is found there gets used instead. Rather like a Wal-Mart grocery substitution for home delivery - "we didn't have spinach so here's a quart of Great Value cola."

so i guess this phenomenon is just a part of information theory in general.

Yes, or of brainology or whatever it's supposed to be called, I would think. The brain doesn't always get time to run its "did I retrieve the correct item?" check. There's a Radio 4 comedy panel game called "Just A Minute" in which contestants have to talk for 60 seconds on a given subject without repetition, deviation, or hesitation. It still amazes me that anybody can complete the mission, but Clement Freud (Sigmund's descendant) for one was very good at it. If not for the hesitation rule, I would be too. And hesitating in typical conversation tends to invite interruption, hence the time pressure that causes your trouble, I think.



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04 Dec 2023, 9:05 am

I barely even speak to other people.
I can't listen to radios because of the announcers.
Why would I speak to myself and cause that noise?

Human voices give me Misophonia.

I can talk to myself perfectly well in my head.
No noise needed.


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04 Dec 2023, 1:04 pm

Elgee wrote:

What bothers me is when NTs yap loudly into their wireless at the gym/.../ These clowns will even talk LITERALLY while lifting weights. /.../
If anyone here uses a gym, you know precisely who these clowns are.

Yes...these clowns!


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auntblabby
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04 Dec 2023, 8:31 pm

ToughDiamond wrote:
auntblabby wrote:
ToughDiamond wrote:
She also was glad to hear that she wasn't the only one. AFAIK she doesn't substitute a word she's just heard somebody say, it seems to be just a random word, but I'll try to find out more. I did notice that sometimes when I'm talking to myself, I can get momentarily distracted by what I'm doing at the time, and then my mind goes rather blank, and rather than give myself time to get it right, I'll desperately paste in a whole string from something I just heard or read, so you're not quite alone in that respect either. I guess the mechanism behind it is that because the right thing isn't found in the short-term memory, a bit of material that is found there gets used instead. Rather like a Wal-Mart grocery substitution for home delivery - "we didn't have spinach so here's a quart of Great Value cola."

so i guess this phenomenon is just a part of information theory in general.

Yes, or of brainology or whatever it's supposed to be called, I would think. The brain doesn't always get time to run its "did I retrieve the correct item?" check. There's a Radio 4 comedy panel game called "Just A Minute" in which contestants have to talk for 60 seconds on a given subject without repetition, deviation, or hesitation. It still amazes me that anybody can complete the mission, but Clement Freud (Sigmund's descendant) for one was very good at it. If not for the hesitation rule, I would be too. And hesitating in typical conversation tends to invite interruption, hence the time pressure that causes your trouble, I think.

ah yes, it does take me longer than the typical person to retrieve and order my brain droppings, as it were.



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04 Dec 2023, 8:35 pm

IsabellaLinton wrote:
I barely even speak to other people.
I can't listen to radios because of the announcers.
Why would I speak to myself and cause that noise?

Human voices give me Misophonia.

I can talk to myself perfectly well in my head.
No noise needed.


Personally, I often talk to myself out loud on top of the talking to myself inside my head. It's like having an extra channel for additional communication.


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04 Dec 2023, 9:19 pm

I swear out loud to myself.
Today I was frustrated with people and kept swearing in my car.

I thought of this question.
lol


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naturalplastic
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04 Dec 2023, 9:28 pm

I use made up swear phrases.

They just pop out of my mouth and I start using them.

Lately at work you may hear me say "OH..sugar and spice...and everything NICE!". :twisted:

Once a group at work overheard me, and a young lady said "that's ME!".

Years ago I used to use to say "Shostakovich!". Which is the name of two famous Soviet Russian classical composers (father and son Anton and Dimitry). But its sounds and feels like a combination of the S bomb and the SOB phrase. Really gets it out of your system! And instead of being offended folks are awestruck by how educated you sound. Lol! But one day some real dumb guy I worked with thought I was saying something really naughty. So I phased out saying it. Oh well.



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04 Dec 2023, 9:32 pm

i like the invented [the simpsons' "kang and kodos"] swear word "shazzbutt!" meself. :alien:



IsabellaLinton
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04 Dec 2023, 9:34 pm

I go with traditional F variants.


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auntblabby
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04 Dec 2023, 9:45 pm

i hafta be seriously pissed off before i'll swear with any real bite.



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04 Dec 2023, 9:53 pm

I don't swear AT people - just about them lol


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