Autism Advocacy

Memory is a science

Originally published February 6, 2019, on Jepsonfiles.com

I am watching a lecture series on how our brains function in creating and storing memories. I am finding it very fascinating. I have always wondered about this because I have a better memory for certain things than the average person, I think. For example, I have pretty vivid memories of some of the things in our house in Colorado when I was just two years old. From what I’ve been told, most people can’t remember that far into their childhood. It’s interesting because that is when my brain was also becoming dysfunctional in other areas ultimately resulting in autism. I think there is a connection. Autistic savants have photographic memories for certain things. Sometimes it’s math or historical events such as dates on a calendar. Sometimes it’s visual, like being able to draw a city map after just seeing it once. Sometimes it is auditory like being able to play a piece of music by ear on the piano after hearing it once. All of these memories are created in different parts of the brain and yet all have autism in common. What is causing this unusual memory storage in the autistic brain? It seems like a pretty big clue about the origin of the problem leading to pretty amazing skills on one hand with severe dysfunction on the other. I am interested to learn more.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *