Thinking Process and Memory

[Kit Hunter]

So I came across a few accounts where aspies/auties described that they "think in pictures" and I found this intriguing. Do any of you think or feel in this way? Is this something that only occurs with some aspies/auties or is it typical? Does it perhaps have to do with severity (aka how far along you are on the spectrum)?

Besides this, I was also wondering about how good your memory is, and if there tends to be a tipping point to a certain kind of memory. Are you good with short term, working memory or is long-term memory stronger?

As for me, I don't think in pictures, per se. However, I do have a strong ability to mentally visualize things, especially if it has personal value. I think with an "internal monologue" of words.

With memory, my long term is better than short term. Working memory can be a mess as I constantly forget day-to-day things, usually because my mind was already tied up in obsessively thinking about something else.
Aside from this, my memory tends to be very associative. So, if a term is brought up I'll think of a bunch of similar ones or that term's multiple meanings, or the time and circumstances when I learned that word - which is very often. For example, every time I hear the word "spatula" I always think of a video game I played when I was about 4 years old that was about Minnie Mouse where you baked cakes and cared for a kitchen, which is where I first learned the word.

Have any interesting examples of your mind or memory works? Feel free to share.

 

[Harrison]

I think in pictures and have a very good memory. As I age it does seem to be less efficient than it was but good enough for me to not worry.

 

[Ylva]

Like Luminosity vampires, I can only remember things to whatever degree I paid attention when they happened. My memory is mostly visual, but with aural and tactile aspects. My thinking process is mostly verbal, however.

 

[clg114]

I think in pictures and it is very handy. When I have a technical problem, I will test different solutions in "my minds eye" and decide what solution to use. Sometimes I miss something, but generally this works well for me. My long term memory and work memory are fine, but I have a little trouble with short term memory. I think it is probably age related. My wife says that my head is full and there is no room left.

 

[Nitro]

Mine is pretty off the hook for engineering too.

 

[Aspergirl4hire]

Since I have to draw to see what I think, I'll say I think in pictures. I don't see details the way cig114 describes it (which matches how Grandin describes her thinking). I do see concepts that I can't articulate until there are lines and squiggles to point at. I can remember details from history but I lose my keys, wallet, and phone, regularly. To say nothing of raincoats.

 

[Nitro]

Since I have to draw to see what I think, I'll say I think in pictures. I don't see details the way cig114 describes it (which matches how Grandin describes her thinking). I do see concepts that I can't articulate until there are lines and squiggles to point at. I can remember details from history but I lose my keys, wallet, and phone, regularly. To say nothing of raincoats.

Temple returned my call last year

Some of you may have what is considered an eidetic memory,described as photographic,but lacking full details.
I have very highly defines pictures and motion picture clips that take on three dimensions.
When I was in grade school,I was entered into a spelling bee and won it. They gave me a book with all the words that were going to be used. I just looked inside my head at what I had recorded after reading the book.

 

[ThatSkyWing]

My long term memory is way better than my short term memory(I use every bit of my memory to remember video game and anime facts), and I do occasionally think in pictures.

 

[DogwoodTree]

I definitely think in pictures, and I also have a sense of "energy" too...not quite color or temperature or movement, but more like position, direction, a sense of things being close or far away, that kind of thing.

Even the things I hear, I convert into images. Like when someone is talking, I "see" a marquee-like image where the text of what was said scrolls past my vision, and that's a big part of how I remember what was said. I'll also remember their tone of voice, and the energy of the context of the conversation, but it's all grounded in the visual text that I created.

I really thought everyone thought in pictures. Had no idea that wasn't the case until just recently. The first time I saw Temple Grandin's book, Thinking in Pictures, I thought, well duh--everybody thinks in pictures!

 

[Nitro]

I definitely think in pictures, and I also have a sense of "energy" too...not quite color or temperature or movement, but more like position, direction, a sense of things being close or far away, that kind of thing.

Even the things I hear, I convert into images. Like when someone is talking, I "see" a marquee-like image where the text of what was said scrolls past my vision, and that's a big part of how I remember what was said. I'll also remember their tone of voice, and the energy of the context of the conversation, but it's all grounded in the visual text that I created.

I really thought everyone thought in pictures. Had no idea that wasn't the case until just recently. The first time I saw Temple Grandin's book, Thinking in Pictures, I thought, well duh--everybody thinks in pictures!

It was the same for me,I didn't know what made me different. Do your thought pictures form slowly or do they come in sudden bursts?

 

[DogwoodTree]

Do your thought pictures form slowly or do they come in sudden bursts?

Both, I guess. When someone says something about an idea or place or event or whatever, I see it more in bursts. When I'm trying to remember something, I sometimes have to start with a small piece of it, and rebuild the picture from there.

 

[Nitro]

Both, I guess. When someone says something about an idea or place or event or whatever, I see it more in bursts. When I'm trying to remember something, I sometimes have to start with a small piece of it, and rebuild the picture from there.

My stills get delivered in what could be best described as packets in quick bursts. When I started to pay attention to it,it was amazing how well my mind could sort and catalog them. Do you get movie clips?

 

[DogwoodTree]

Do you get movie clips?

Yes, I get video clips, too. It was really cool in algebra and geometry to be able to manipulate these 3-dimensional, visual representations of the abstract concepts. I wished I knew more about animation so I could recreate some of those.

 

[Nitro]

Can you morph two pictures to form a new image?

 

[DogwoodTree]

Can you morph two pictures to form a new image?

I guess, first, I'm amused at the question. Is this really so unusual to be able to do that? I create pictures in my head all the time, simply by suggesting an idea. It's how I explore possibilities. So...are you asking like...can I take a forest scene and find a way to merge in other elements? Or a picture of a chair, but start manipulating its dimensions and characteristics until I turn it into something else? Then yes.

We have an older house, and I'm constantly visualizing things I can do to the house to update/fix/decorate it. I can walk into a room and "see" everything I want to do to it. Even just cleaning...I can walk into the kitchen, compare the actual image to the image in my head of what it should look like when it's clean, and see what work needs to be done to get it there.

I'm a technical writer of sorts, and when I'm writing about technical things, I visualize what's happening inside the computer...the cables...other devices...and write about it.

When I was learning maths of all kinds...and still now when I teach it to my kids...I see the numbers moving around, the pieces fitting together. It's both the visual picture and the "energy" of the numbers...like with 7, I can feel the "lack" of 3 to make an even 10. All numbers have colors to me, too (synesthesia), so I use those color patterns to do mathematical calculations.

Is that the kind of thing you're talking about?

 

[Limited_Moon]

I think in 'video clips' like someone mentioned. But my working memory is pretty awful. I'm one of these people who frequently walk into a room and promptly forget why they're there. The worst thing is that my partner is just as bad, so we get into these amusing arguments where one of us has forgotten to remind the other to do something.

I've noticed that my ability to remember stuff is greatly improved if I write it down, because my mind sort of 'takes a picture' of my notes, and I can freely retrieve that picture when ever I need it in relative clarity. I'm also the person who usually know where someone has put something when it is lost, because I seem to have very detailed pictures of my surroundings, (which I seem to analyse more throroughly than everyone else I know) and I can recall a picture of where I've last seen the object.

I think my long term memories are pretty vivid, but haven't really thought about whether they are unusually so or not. I don't really know what the norm is, so I don't know how I compare.