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Memory
Most of us are lucky enough to not have to think about memory and it's substantial impact on our day to day functioning in the world. The concept of memory does not come to the forefront of our minds, ironically until we, or someone that we love begins to struggle with it. In autism and other developmental disabilities, it is often thought that these individuals have good memories. Often times, individuals with autism have some extremely efficient parts of memory while others can be extremely inefficient.
There are three types of memory that comprise the memory process; 1- Sensory Memory, 2- Short Term Memory and 3- Long Term memory.
Sensory Memory:
Sensory memory is the shortest term memory. In individuals where this memory is functioning properly, it allows us to remember something we saw, smelt, touched, heard or tasted even after that stimulus is gone. It also acts as a buffer for stimuli that is received through each of our five senses. Sensory memory, when functioning properly allows us to ignore much of the stimuli we encounter in the world and only perceive the important parts, allowing us to not be overwhelmed by our environment.
In individuals where sensory memory is not functioning properly, there is a limited ability to ignore certain stimuli and these individuals often have to manage much more stimulation than a person whose sensory memory is working properly.
Short Term Memory: This can be thought of as your brain's post it note. This part of memory holds a small amount of information for a limited amount of time. It allows you to remember the beginning of this sentence so the end of the sentence makes sense. This type of memory allows you to remember and process information at the same time. In individuals with autism and other neuro-developmental disabilities, they process information at a slower pace. We need to provide their brain's with adequate time to do this. We can do this by increasing your wait time when you provide instruction, ask a question, or any other stimuli. If their brain is given the appropriate amount of time, they will be able to better process information, and therefore improve this type of memory, allowing them to interpret the important information for long term storage. Long Term Memory: Long term memory can be divided into two parts, declarative memory and procedural memory. Procedural Memory: This is the "how to" part of our brain. It's reflected in how we perform certain skills and actions. Things that are stored here produce the same results each time and there are no emotional memories stored here. Examples of this type of memory use are; memorizing facts, remembering rules, and tying your shoes. When this memory is working properly, there is little conscious thought required. So in other words, when you use this memory, you are not thinking about or remembering the experience you had to learn whatever skill it is you are engaging in. Individuals with autism and other neuro-developmental disabilities rely heavily on this type of memory. This is the memory that is targeted in traditional behavioral therapies for autism and other related disorders.
Declarative Memory is one of the 2 parts of long term memory and it can also be broken down into 2 important parts; semantic and episodic.
Semantic Memory
Semantic memory is a structured records of facts, concepts, skills and general knowledge about the world. The type of knowledge stored here is not connected to personal or emotional memories. This is the type of memory that allows us to know what a cat is and also to know that a seat can be a chair, a bench or a couch. Procedural memory would be where we store the information that allows us to read but semantic memory is what allows us to read different fonts the same way. It's the understanding of the concept rather than the specific example.
Episodic Memory:
Episodic memory is a representation of specific experiences, events or situations that you have been involved in. In semantic memory, you would remember the events of an experience, the people that were there, the things you saw, what time you arrived and left. Your episodic memory allows you to remember what made you laugh, how upset you were when you had to leave, how it was so great to see an old friend.
This type of memory also allows you to reflect on past experiences, consider how to appraise and problem solve a current situation and consider a future experience and how you would manage it. Individuals with autism and other disabilities have an extremely difficult time creating episodic memories. They often do not see the big picture and get caught up the details of an experience, leading them to miss opportunities to learn from their environment.
For more information on episodic memory and how you can strengthen it in your child, see the "check it out" section.
It is critical to consider what types of memories we are creating and what part of memory is being targeted when treating individuals with autism and other disorders. Many traditional therapies target procedural and semantic memory, as these are the stronger parts of memory for individuals with autism and related disorders. At Extraordinary Minds, we target as well as teach parents to target episodic memory, as this is what is the weakest and most important for the development of self and of relationships.
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