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This weekend I learned about object permanence and how people with autism and/or ADHD can have difficulties with it.
And I realise that this, in particular, is what I've been struggling with for the last few years.
It's causing problems with me doing work and particular tasks for work.
It also explains why my approach to friendship has sometimes been different to my friends'.
#ActuallyAutistic #ADHD #ASD1 #Aspergers #Neurodivergent
![What Object Permanence Issues Look Like in ADHD
- Needing constant sensory cues in order to remember things can make life difficult. Aside from cluttering your space with tons of visual cues, object permanence issues can also be a factor in why someone with ADHD keeps abandoning tasks before finishing them.
T'll put a pot of water on the stove to boil for pasta. Then, I’ll leave the kitchen to do something else while I wait for it to boil. Almost immediately, I'll completely forget that there’s a pot of water boiling on the stove—until I happen to walk into the kitchen a few hours later and find an empty pot sitting on a hot burner. It’s not that I don’t understand that objects keep existing. It’s just that need constant visual or audio cues to prevent myself from forgetting them. The same forgetfulness happens with people, too. I'm really good at maintaining contact with people who live in the same house as me. But it takes an elaborate system of social “cues” and planning to make sure I keep in touch with people I don’t see every day—because my brain is simply too distracted by whatever present activity or environment it’s in to remember. This puts a lot of strain on friendships because forgetting to visit and check in on people looks a lot like simply not valuing that person enough to remember them. [Continues in follow-on Toot.]](https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/110/804/390/170/769/498/original/84baf3560c935adc.png "What Object Permanence Issues Look Like in ADHD
- Needing constant sensory cues in order to remember things can make life difficult. Aside from cluttering your space with tons of visual cues, object permanence issues can also be a factor in why someone with ADHD keeps abandoning tasks before finishing them.
T'll put a pot of water on the stove to boil for pasta. Then, I’ll leave the kitchen to do something else while I wait for it to boil. Almost immediately, I'll completely forget that there’s a pot of water boiling on the stove—until I happen to walk into the kitchen a few hours later and find an empty pot sitting on a hot burner. It’s not that I don’t understand that objects keep existing. It’s just that need constant visual or audio cues to prevent myself from forgetting them. The same forgetfulness happens with people, too. I'm really good at maintaining contact with people who live in the same house as me. But it takes an elaborate system of social “cues” and planning to make sure I keep in touch with people I don’t see every day—because my brain is simply too distracted by whatever present activity or environment it’s in to remember. This puts a lot of strain on friendships because forgetting to visit and check in on people looks a lot like simply not valuing that person enough to remember them. [Continues in follow-on Toot.]")
Full Atl Text:
"What Object Permanence Issues Look Like in ADHD
- Needing constant sensory cues in order to remember things can make life difficult. Aside from cluttering your space with tons of visual cues, object permanence issues can also be a factor in why someone with ADHD keeps abandoning tasks before finishing them."
"I'll put a pot of water on the stove to boil for pasta. Then, I’ll leave the kitchen to do something else while I wait for it to boil. Almost immediately, I'll completely forget that there’s a pot of water boiling on the stove—until I happen to walk into the kitchen a few hours later and find an empty pot sitting on a hot burner. It’s not that I don’t understand that objects keep existing. It’s just that need constant visual or audio cues to prevent myself from forgetting them."
@theaardvark thank you for this.
Maybe that is the reason why I am struggling more with keeping in contact. Is it something that can suddenly worsen?
It feels like it got more difficult for me in the past 4 years.
@kischtrine
Mine has definitely got worse over the last 2 - 3 years.
This is interesting since I couldn’t find the reason why everything is so much harder.
I'm almost a little desperate about it.
(she/her) @theaardvark This is a bit of a strange article, because they say that this is working memory and not object permanence and then confuse the concepts. Piaget's concept of object permanence is no longer fully accepted even in child development.
I think there are better answers to explain what's going with us in 4E cognition these days.
(Technically, within the Piaget model ADHD adults have object permanence bc we understand that things we can't see exist, it's just that we forget about them.)
@theaardvark
Absolutely revelatory this was to me