this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024
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I suffer from this thing called object permanence (self.autism)
submitted 5 months ago by wonderfulvoltaire to c/autism
16 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

A thing only exists if I know it exists. I experience good days and bad days but I do the best I can to keep moving forward despite this flaw. I don't have any wisdom to share but I hope y'all have a nice day ๐Ÿ˜Š

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[โ€“] [email protected] 35 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Reminds of the "out of sight, out of mind" phrase which is used a lot by the ADHD community. Essentially, we tend to forget stuff either because we are hyperfocused on something (common ASD trait too), or because our working memory sucks. As a result, whenever something gets out of our sight, we tend to forget about it.

For example, yesterday I almost burnt my food because I decided to quickly reply to a message. Before I realized it, an hour had passed and I was rushing to the kitchen to save whatever I could.

Are you experiencing something similar?

Thanks btw, I wasn't aware of the term "Object Permanence", here is a wikipedia link for anyone interested:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_permanence

Object permanence is the understanding that whether an object can be sensed has no effect on whether it continues to exist (in the mind). This is a fundamental concept studied in the field of developmental psychology, the subfield of psychology that addresses the development of young children's social and mental capacities. There is not yet scientific consensus on when the understanding of object permanence emerges in human development.

I wish a good day back at you ๐Ÿ˜

[โ€“] BottleOfAlkahest 25 points 5 months ago (2 children)

So object permanence is way more extreme than what most people with ASD or ADHD experience. You can demonstrate a lack of object permanence in young children by presenting them with a toy and then covering the toy with a blanket, while they child is watching. The child will react as if the object is gone and be unable to find the toy. It's at some point in the toddler phase where most children pick up object permanence. For example you'd expect a 4 year old to lift the blanket they saw you place over the toy.

With ADHD it's an attention/working memory issue. I'd expect an ND adult to know to look under the blanket they saw placed over an object immediately after it happened. Someone without object permanence couldn't do that. It's why peek-a-boo is a fun game for babies but not ADHD adults.

[โ€“] Jarix 15 points 5 months ago

It's weird to hear peekaboo described so technically

[โ€“] ganksy 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Does anyone have any experience with some return of working memory with treatment?

[โ€“] BottleOfAlkahest 3 points 5 months ago

There might ve some improvement with medication for some people.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4120250/

And some training may improve working memory, although there seems to be some disagreement about how much.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-024-02466-8#:~:text=Meta%2Danalyses%20have%20found%20that,tasks%20for%20assessment%20and%20training.

[โ€“] cynar 2 points 5 months ago

Treatment helps with using your working memory better, as well as working around its limitations better. Unfortunately this gets harder to change as you get older.

ADHD medication can help a lot too (assuming you have ADHD). It doesn't improve memory directly, but can cut down the constant "noise" in your head. This makes fixing memories easier.

[โ€“] wonderfulvoltaire 2 points 5 months ago

Yup that's the one. I lost my phone one time in middle school and freaked out and the next day it was in the office cuz someone picked it up behind me and couldn't get my attention cuz I was too busy backtracking.