ADHD and Short-Term Memory

Why is it that those of us with ADHD seem to have short-term memory?

[scalplive]

An actual advice for people's name in particular, is to install the patch:"I'm the guy that remembers every single person's name at a party".
It's fairly easy to achieve with a bit of training, all you have to do is:
1) Decide that's a thing you do
2) Use visual associations, the more absurd the better. The only illustration that I can find in English: Imagine meeting a Frank. Whenever he says his name, repeat it out loud, and picture the guy being brutally honest. Like telling you "Man, *frankly*, your shirt is ugly".

The more you do it, the more you train your brain to be good at it, and also, the more you find the types of associations that work the best for you.

*EDIT* : Another example I thought about, that illustrate the fact it doesn't have to involve the actual full name, what you need is a mnemonic anchor. If you meet a Sebastian, picture him with a lot of acne. Acne => Sebum => Seb => Sebastian. Believe me, it still works.

[Miles_]

One apparent difference with me and other ADHD people - I don't forget things that were just said to me because my mind is in ten other places. No, my mind is on the task at hand. The problem is that my mind just kind of decides to drop information, seemingly at random, no matter how trivial or important it is, especially if (but not excluding otherwise) there's more than a single bit of information coming in at a time. I'm not sure how much of that is ADHD and how much it is some other condition, but either way, it feels bad, man! And I'm not sure how to deal with it. In any case, I appreciate you detailing the "pause patch", I'll see if that ends up helping.

[LeonardoDiCapthezhoes]

Is there anyone else who remembers the names, faces, and personalities of everyone in their 1st grade class, but spends 15min looking for the glasses that are already on their face

[shiftybat]

I had to pause and rewind this and the last video I watched because I realized a couple minutes in I went into a hypothetical scenario in my head complete with conversation.

[dlpasco]

Same problem here. With names, I now try to make a point of saying “Hi, <name>” so that I verbalize it. It’s helped. I also repeat their name again before we part ways

[liandajane]

it's always in a conversation I do it. In conversations my head goes so fast, it's a struggle to not interupt people who have made their point but keep talking, if I politely wait, I'm not listening, I'm just waiting to speak now it's my time speak i start speaking and I go blank because you wont shut up. Those sudden blanks are fkn embarassing and so frustrating!

[sobo]

At about 2:15 I started scrolling through the comments, I do things like this a lot.

[shaylxix]

Hey... Love the shirt... Oh... Wait... What was I here for 😂😢😅

[scalplive]

I have a neat cheat code for that, but I was born with it no it's more a brag than an advice. Whenever I ear someone saying something without paying attention, I have no idea what they said. I have a perfect auditory recall, so I can replay the audio. Not once in my life I have said: "Can you repeat ? I was not paying attention".

Well, to be more accurate, it has never happened while I was sober

[LeonardoDiCapthezhoes]

Anamorphizing things, seeing items with auras and human in some way makes it easier to remember things because you consider it "alive" to an extent. Vsauce guy says that a woman puts googly eyes on the things she forgets the most and it works, they're more salient in her mind

[qezart]

An issue that comes up is detecting that your brain is going off on a tangent in the first place. I can sometimes recognize it and catch myself, but most of the time I'm deeply distracted and don't even realize it until it is far too late. Do you have advice on initially detecting you are distracted?

[Pssnmeoff]

Instead of saying "pause"...I do a quick little "poof" like you're blowing away a hair in your mouth. Its me "blowing" away a thought that's becoming intrusive. I keep it to myself...and it works. No one very notices.

[kendregab]

Great video! I can totally relate! My friends gave me the nickname Dory in middle and high school because my short term memory was and still is horrible with names, recent memories, tasks ect. Also has anyone taken the TOVA test? My clinic says I need to take this in order to be fully diagnosed with ADHD and to have the option to take stimulants. I'm about to start Straterra as my PNP is giving me a "soft diagnosis" of ADHD. Whatever that means. I'm taking the TOVA test this coming Monday and I'm nervous that I'll get anxious and fail as I don't do well with tests. Any advice would be greatly appreciated 🙏

[GoADHDGo]

“What do we want!?”

“A cure for short term memory!”

“And when do we want it!?”

“When do we want what?”

————

In other news… I’m listening to Erasure’s Chorus album at this very moment.