Visual Thinking?

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I'm a very visual thinker with a active imagination also,I daydream a lot.
I was talking to my therapist about this and he said " everyone thinks in pictures "I'm not sure if he's right,he then asked me "if I ask you to picture a lizard what do you see?"I said a lizard,but what kind do you want?I can pull up a visual of lots.his reply"Thats not how Autistic people think,they would see the color green and then maybe a dinosaur like creature". Is he right about this?that's not how I think,it's like a Polaroid or a movie,I can even smell the smells,mentally of course.Is he right?

No, he's not right. Not everyone thinks in pictures. You don't have to be on the spectrum to think this way and not everyone on the spectrum thinks in pictures, but it's more common amongst those on the spectrum than in the general population. In fact, google 'thinking in pictures' and you'll get a load of sites on autism, granted many are in relation to Temple Grandin's book, but there are many more.

Thank you Mummy_of_Peanut for the info.
Hope to one day overcome my fear of flying and visit Bonnie Scotland,traced some ancestors back to Cambelltown,the Kintyre peninsula, and a Grace Argriff in Edinborough.
But I can't find anything on the Argriffs,maybe a misspelling in the records,it was in the late 1600's.

This seems to have been a long-held clinical belief, and it made me hesitate when I first read a description of ASD symptoms - I also have a very rich imagination (I am an artist and have always been very creative). However, having since interacted with many AS people here and elsewhere, it appears to have little foundation. In fact, I have met more imaginative and creative people in aspie spaces than in my interaction with the general population. You may be interested in a thread I made about this: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt211468.html

As I pointed out in that thread, when I visited the UK Autistic Society website, they gave a more specific and up-to-date description: it stated that autistic people are often imaginitive in the traditional sense of the word, but have difficulties with social imagination, the ability to predict other people's behaviour and the outcome of situations, which describes me and other AS people I know very well. I think this is what is meant by the reference to "lack of imagination" in clinical descriptions and it is a bit frustrating that the material about autism seems to be slow in noting that there is a distinction between social imagination and other kinds of creativity.

Misslizard, that was a very peculiar thing for your therapist to say, and far too specific to apply to such a broad range of people as those on the autistic spectrum. Perhaps he was referring to work with young children, who may not yet have a clear idea what a lizard looks like.

I remember reading that 65% of the general population thinks primarily in images. I can't think in images (at all) and I've asked a lot of friends, family members, and coworkers about their thinking style. Almost everyone I've asked (mostly NT) think primarily in images.

I think the difference between an autistic person and an NT, in primary thinking style, is that an autistic person's thinking style is less balanced. We're more likely to do almost 100% of our thinking in our primary thinking style. NTs seem to be more balanced and able to use their non-primary thinking style more easily.

Thank you for clearing that up. Now I think I understand it.

Here's a little exercise to do to explore visual thinking: say random nouns to yourself and think about what they mean to you.

When I do this it seems that my thinking is partly visual and partly not. For example, when I say the word 'jungle' to myself, a visual image of a jungle immediately flashes into mind.

However the thinking that led up to that was not visual at all. I have no image in my mind that represents 'think of a random noun'. So how did my brain generate the word 'jungle' in the first place? It did it with abstract concepts, not with images.

I also think in pictures (or pictures of words). I have a hard time comprehending thinking in any other way!

Have you any source on the visual thinking statistics?
I do not have any pictures in my head, at all. Only blackness. But I think several thoughts at once, at least four different thoughts at once and they are not nessesarily related to each other.

There are actually a lot more intelligences and the most popular clarification comes from Howard Gardner. These are:

1. Naturalist Intelligence

2. Musical Intelligence

3. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

4. Existential Intelligence

5. Interpersonal Intelligence

6. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

7. Linguistic Intelligence

8. Intra-personal Intelligence

9. Spatial Intelligence

Most individuals are balanced more or less, with stronger inclinations to one versus the other. When I posted the test for intelligences here a while back I noticed that most of us scored very high on one area and very low on others, especially socially/inclined intelligences.

If anyone is interesting in taking an intelligences test here is a link to one I found: http://www.literacyworks.org/mi/assessm ... ngths.html

I have taken a similar test before and I was highly visual, which I can believe. May take it again later.

It was my understanding that Gardner's theory has more to do with learning styles than how you think. That is, if you have naturalist intelligence, you'll learn better if the information is related to nature, but you don't necessarily relate all your thoughts to nature. It might be too fine a difference to make the distinction, though.

This article mentions 60% of the general population being visual thinkers. It's not a scientific article or anything though...

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/470812_a ... ic-thinker

Donna Williams says 60% here:
http://www.donnawilliams.net/notthinkinginpics.0.html

The myth that visual thinking is an autistic phenomenon seems to be related to Temple Grandin's assumption that since she is a visual thinker, other autistic must be too. A large percentage of the autistic community are primarily visual thinkers, but it's also the most common thinking style for NTs.

I think you are right but in the same regard how you think affects how you learn, thus I thought this was applicable. Was I wrong?

I don't think you're wrong! I just mean that the way you learn may be different from they way you think...you might have naturalist intelligence, but think in pictures, that's all.

Very true. SOrry I tend to have linear thinking on occasion.

^^ yup. this.