12 Comments
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Paula Mader Brensinger's avatar

All of this! I hate chess! I hate it because of the reasoning you gave about working memory. I thought I was stupid as a kid because I couldn’t get chess. And because people thought I was so smart I SHOULD be able to excel at it!

Jon Mick's avatar

I hate chess too. I mean, I like the idea/concept of it; but my working memory has never survived a game. Great example!

Amberhawk's avatar

This raised several thoughts for me.

1) I love to play games, but I struggle with strategy. In particular, I am horrible at chess and hate playing that one game. I’ve been taught patterns, but I promptly forget them.

2) I almost never get through an entire non fiction book. I knew in part it was because I get caught up in one idea and have to process. But I hadn’t considered how working memory plays into this.

3) If I get interrupted by anything, especially sound, I lose what I’m thinking about. This literally happened while writing this comment. I knew there were three things I wanted to say, my husband made a joke, and it took a few minutes to work my way back to the specific thought. That feels like working memory fragility too.

Thank you for sharing your experiences in a way that allows me to better understand my own.

Jon Mick's avatar

You’re starting to see it! I love that!

Thanks for sharing YOUR experiences too. It helps others.

Bridget: Neurodivergent Nurse's avatar

Not me reading this article in 5 different stages because my mind was distracted by kids, books, thoughts and study. An enjoyable read though and certainly relate to the steps of translation.

Jon Mick's avatar

I love hearing that! You not only read it while distracted. You left a comment! Nicely done!!

Bridget: Neurodivergent Nurse's avatar

I feel like I need to comment to be able to cement the concept in my brain. It's like reading for uni and not taking notes, it just floats away haha.

Jon Mick's avatar

Don't worry. There won't be an exam. In fact, I already forgot what the article was about myself. 🫠

Bridget: Neurodivergent Nurse's avatar

Oh I know. But I still like the scaffolding for my brain and understanding of self.

S. B.'s avatar

And the web thinking. Yes. I call it fractal thinking!

S. B.'s avatar

Also there's a great couple of paragraphs under the header "processing time and asynchronous communication" about taking notes during fights that was very humanising and validating here!: https://substack.com/@purplecrochet/note/c-236973722?r=yz6la

S. B.'s avatar

YOU SIR UNDERSTAND ME!!!! Thank you! Yes! The note taking during fights and the 300 tabs and the inability to stand the dog licking himself despite all the other sound. And my working memory, yeah it's shit. But I was falling asleep procrastinating on going to bed before I found this article that lit my brain on fire and woke me up! I've always found reading easy though. Unlike you I sucked at academics. And now I'm on disability benefits since the age of 38 after two burnouts. I'm definitely sending this to my neuropeeps!