Theorem

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Theorem: The only significant neurological difference in Autism is that of memory function. Autism is caused by the action of society and this neurological difference.

I used to think I had a memory problem, but now I'm not so sure. I can remember things pretty well if I concentrate, and I am able to concentrate if nothing distracts me. On my last professional IQ test my best part of the test was the part where I had to recite strings of numbers forwards and backwards. I can also put things into "long-term memory" without much difficulty if I give myself a conscious incentive to remember them.

On the other hand, I've consistently had problems with motor skills and auditory processing. I blame most of my social difficulties these days on the latter. I'm also very easy to distract, and can't do more than one thing at a time (which may have bearing on the other traits I mentioned).

I was thinking less on the lines of memory problem - more like difference in how we recall, save (format etc) and what we store rather than anything.

Like being in a state of constant culture shock because you do not acclimate to your surroundings by relying on memory? And therefore not knowing what to pay attention to and what is background noise? Sensory issues are similar in nature, but not exactly the same. I think issues with REM sleep also tie in to how memories are processed somehow.

My memory is fine. If I could point to one thing that makes me the most different, it would be executive functioning problems. Those involve organization, planning, etc.

Also, my verbal IQ being 30 points higher than my actual performance IQ doesn't help either.

Aha - but you can blame executive dysfunction on how you recall stuff. For example an NT could search their memory for all the tasks they need to do, Aspie's cannot do that. Memory is key for organisation and planning.

Absolutely nothing to do with Autism though.

All our sensory issues could be put in terms of memory - for example we tend to save stuff in more visual terms - disposition to visual thinking.

Society is a system which has been designed around the NT way of thinking - and this includes memory. Obvious example - how many things do we forget to do in social situations. Go deeper into that example and you will be more on my line of thinking here.

Keep a notebook handy. Take notes. Jot down things you need to remember later.

Plan the work; work the plan.

ruveyn

Actually, it does have a lot to do with autism. It's a sign of nonverbal learning disability, which most people agree should be on the spectrum. 1 in 3 aspies have NLD with their AS.

Do you have a study on it in mind (I do have JSTOR etc access if that helps)?

But I could find plenty of aspies where its the otherway around. I am a lot better at maths than writing essays (the latter is a skill that I am busy trying to acquire). If it has anything at all to do with AS it would fit under the society action of my theorem - my money is that its another thing entirely. Certainly warrants being treated as a separate condition if it is actually correlated directly at all.

I'm not an exclusively visual thinker, but I guess that's just one example.

Maybe social conditioning requires a specific kind of memory? Synthesis from memory maybe.

There's a memory component to it; but I don't think that this is particularly fundamental to autism.

If anything is fundamental to autism, it seems to be that the brain processes information differently, including social, linguistic, and sensory information.

I never said exclusively visual - just disproportionately so.

It requires the ability to retain certain things permanently in short term memory - and linkage to elements of conversation.

QUOTED FOR TRUTH! YOU ARE RIGHT! HOW could my sensory problems be because of memory? And most of my social problems have NO link to memory! HECK, some of my VERBAL "problems" are because some memory is TOO GOOD and I want to be truthful! And Autistic people aren't, as a group, stupid. They ALSO don't lack the ability to remember. Those talents are just allocated differently.

To say that Autism is 100% because of memory is DUMB! After all, MANY MR people have a bad memory, but have never been considered autistic.

My argument here is that this is all because of memory and external factors. The key thing really is what we retain and in what ways we can recall it.

Afraid not - your only writing that post because you want to believe you are utterly special. Well asides your inability to read books as well, it seems. You might think that before posting the thread I would have good answers to the obvious questions, so here goes:

Probably the most difficult one to prove. Think as to what you take in when you remember event - no one takes in every piece of information. Now start following through my argument.

Read a book on conversation skills and see how they are dependent on memory. Most importantly you need to be able to recall the right facts in a given timeframe. If less comes into your head, there is less of an opportunity to lie. Autistic people think more slowly - something which could be easily attributed to memory.

Who said we were. By the way I am referring to the whole spectrum here, for clarity purposes.

We do remember and recall things differently.

I never said bad memory, or memory problems. Just different memory systems. Plus I must point out before modelling on yourself - you assume you have nothing else asides Autism.