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Irulan
The Borg Queen
Joined: May 18, 2007
Age: 24
Posts: 1934
Location: Poland
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 Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:21 am Post subject: Thinking in pictures |
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For all my life I used to think in pictures, absolutely convinced that this style of thinking is common for all human beings and I found it really odd when I discovered that I was wrong and it's thinking with words that is considered to be normal and usual. Although in fact I didn't ponder it consciously I assumed that other people thought like myself and I didn't realize that it's possible for somebody not to think visually. My thoughts are the serieses of more or less chaotic (or if there's such a need, put in order) images which my entire thought is composed of. Sometimes I've a compulsion to repeat still the same thing in my mind and it's practically only situation when I think in words - the example of such a situation may be Emily Dickinson's "Nobody" - a poem that I had to learn by heart at the end of the previous semester because one of my teachers said that a condition of being given a signature for each of us is recitation of a poem discussed by us in that semester in public. Recently I recalled that short poem and I felt a compulsion to recite it in my mind at least several times a day. I'm describing it because I want to demonstrate you the only situation when I use words to think not the pictures. I am even inclined to perceive this way of thinking to be superior to thinking with words - visual thinking seems to be simply faster. I am not sure how a neurotypical person thinks, thinking with words isn't a natural thing for me so I don't know whether I'm right but I compare it to a situation of somebody who reads a book slower than he could because subconsciously he is repeating read words in his mind what slows down the process of reading. My thoughts consist of pictures (especially when I must think over something important) and feelings - each person or item has its counterpart in a form of one general "feeling" I have for this person or thing. This general feeling consists of many different sensations I had in the space of time spent with this thing. I think that I've also some kind of synesthesia. I speak too slowly what is caused by the fact that being a person liking precision I always tend to look for really good counterpart of my thought what isn't so easy. It's just like in case of my writing here - English is not my native language and even though I know it it is not like writing in my own language with no effort at all. And what about you? What is your style of thinking?
Last edited by Irulan on Tue Jun 26, 2007 5:15 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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SteveK
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 20, 2006
Posts: 3417
Location: Chicago, IL
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:38 am Post subject: |
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It is hard for me to adequately define it, but I guess this is the simplest way to define it...
1. Planning the day, determining schedules, searching mentally, driving directions. etc.... kind of Visually.
2. Reading a foreign language/scanning english, and the way I USED to read english.... Simple Math, Studying, etc... Kind of by feel.
3. Current way I read english(Why I can be slow there at times), studying some things, doing complex math(One of the reasons I am so slow there.), etc... audibly.
Steve |
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TheMachine1
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Joined: Jun 12, 2006
Posts: 9092
Location: 9099 will be my last post...what the hell 9011 will be.
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:42 am Post subject: Re: Thinking in pictures |
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| Irulan wrote: | | For all my life I used to think in pictures, absolutely convinced that this style of thinking is common for all human beings and I found it really odd when I discovered that I was wrong and it's thinking with words that is considered to be normal and usual. |
We had a thread in the past and got mixed results in which some people feel they mainly think one way or the other. I think in pictures. But I think I learned language
by sound. Which seems to be confirmed by my large number of sound a like errors I make while typing (that hopefully are edited by me before you see them). |
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Kelsi
Phoenix
Joined: Jun 23, 2007
Posts: 643
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:54 am Post subject: |
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I think in what I call 'thought forms'. That is, a holographic visual image which incorporates textures, sensations and emotions. I have very low capacity for storing pure verbal (either written or auditory) data. First, I have to translate it into a thought form and then store it. To speak, I have to firstly translate my thought forms into written words on my inner 'mind screen', which I then read and speak out loud. I am also a synesthete, so at least the words are colourful. I guess my style of thinking would probably be ideal for the purposes of telepathy. Pity I don't seem to be much good at it.  |
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SteveK
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 20, 2006
Posts: 3417
Location: Chicago, IL
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:55 am Post subject: Re: Thinking in pictures |
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| TheMachine1 wrote: | | Irulan wrote: | | For all my life I used to think in pictures, absolutely convinced that this style of thinking is common for all human beings and I found it really odd when I discovered that I was wrong and it's thinking with words that is considered to be normal and usual. |
We had a thread in the past and got mixed results in which some people feel they mainly think one way or the other. I think in pictures. But I think I learned language
by sound. Which seems to be confirmed by my large number of sound a like errors I make while typing (that hopefully are edited by me before you see them). |
I'm sure we ALL learned by sound, and SOME audible thinking is going on. I used to NEVER make the sound alike errors. Then again, to come to think of it, I did nearly all of that thinking kind of by feel up until my mid teens. I changed it to review some things before I said them, and to check for double entendres. There are just TOO many these days! 8-(
I wonder how normal people DO think. I used to think that everyone thought as I do(method), though I always DID know that results and the way they analyzed things were different. ALSO, I always regreted reading audibly. I don't know why I really went to that style. If I didn't, I might have done everything by feel and visual. I think what I describe as feel is the native way to think, but it just doesn't feel normal and, if it isn't STRONG, it seems less concrete.
Steve |
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TheMachine1
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Joined: Jun 12, 2006
Posts: 9092
Location: 9099 will be my last post...what the hell 9011 will be.
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:08 am Post subject: Re: Thinking in pictures |
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| SteveK wrote: |
I'm sure we ALL learned by sound, and SOME audible thinking is going on. |
Well presumably if a person was taught reading without phonics but by memorizing the
words graphically they will have a host of problems mastering reading later in life. Since
trying to encode a word visually is not as efficient as by using audio memory centers.
There is that mind puzzle where most people can not see the "f" in the word "of" when asked to count the "f's" in a short text. Which suggest that in fact most all people do use sound to learn language but not ALL. |
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Mushroom
Phoenix
Joined: Mar 25, 2007
Posts: 826
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:11 am Post subject: |
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I see words cross my mind when I think, which I think is classified as thinking in words.
I can't visualise things other than words well... but oddly I'm excellent at spatial stuff. |
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girl7000
Majestic Eagle Owl
Joined: Mar 11, 2007
Posts: 1263
Location: Somewhere in the Atlantic
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:12 am Post subject: |
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| SteveK wrote: | It is hard for me to adequately define it, but I guess this is the simplest way to define it...
1. Planning the day, determining schedules, searching mentally, driving directions. etc.... kind of Visually.
2. Reading a foreign language/scanning english, and the way I USED to read english.... Simple Math, Studying, etc... Kind of by feel.
3. Current way I read english(Why I can be slow there at times), studying some things, doing complex math(One of the reasons I am so slow there.), etc... audibly.
Steve |
My ways of thinking are pretty similar. I would add for me specifically that I also think about music and art / creative skills by a combination of 'feel' and analysis. |
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TheMachine1
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Joined: Jun 12, 2006
Posts: 9092
Location: 9099 will be my last post...what the hell 9011 will be.
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:16 am Post subject: |
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| Mushroom wrote: | I see words cross my mind when I think, which I think is classified as thinking in words.
I can't visualise things other than words well... but oddly I'm excellent at spatial stuff. |
I do not visualize words they just seem to play in my head as sound. I can visualize a word I just do not do it. |
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Mushroom
Phoenix
Joined: Mar 25, 2007
Posts: 826
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:22 am Post subject: |
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| TheMachine1 wrote: | | Mushroom wrote: | I see words cross my mind when I think, which I think is classified as thinking in words.
I can't visualise things other than words well... but oddly I'm excellent at spatial stuff. |
I do not visualize words they just seem to play in my head as sound. I can visualize a word I just do not do it. |
I'm the exact opposite... I can hear a word in my head, as well but I'm more comfortable with seeing it.
By the way, I've seen that "f" thing you talked about, and I got it correct. I'll try to find where it was. |
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Irulan
The Borg Queen
Joined: May 18, 2007
Age: 24
Posts: 1934
Location: Poland
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:42 am Post subject: |
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| TheMachine1 wrote: |
I do not visualize words they just seem to play in my head as sound. I can visualize a word I just do not do it. |
When I was 13 I discovered the method of visualizing my thoughts in I guess, an unusual way - when I closed my eyes I saw with my mind's eyes a gazette having a color of pale green and I was able to visualize there things that I had read before in a form of articles written in this newspaper. I could read them easily. The scraps of my knowledge were arranged in a form of an article, gaining a material form. |
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alex
Developer
Joined: Jun 14, 2004
Age: 22
Posts: 6321
Location: DC Metro Area (No. VA)
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Irulan
The Borg Queen
Joined: May 18, 2007
Age: 24
Posts: 1934
Location: Poland
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:57 am Post subject: |
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I've already found this excerpt today when I was looking for something in Google. I asked my mother yesterday whether she used to think in pictures too but she seemed to be suprised that somebody could think that way. |
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stalker_of_thoughts
Blue Jay
Joined: Jun 21, 2007
Posts: 91
Location: germany
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 9:04 am Post subject: |
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I can imagine words as written , but itīs something I have to do actively. Even then itīs more like a word written (mostly in black) in an empty space. Iīm pretty good pronounciation , i didnīt verer understand why people have trouble with that , as soon I get told how itīs right I know how it should sound.
Iīm good at creating pictures in my head , maybee i tnink in pictures , but I do create "pictures" of such concepts as humanity and even "thought". Someone said to me "Several billion people, thatīs so much you canīt even begin to emagine.".
Well I did didnīt take much time at all and yes i did create a picture in my mind.
starting with some dots each one for one human, maken a hole bunch of it for the citty we were in , zooming out and increasind the dots to a degrie where ya canīt precieve every last one of them as a singleed out beginnig (at least not without zooming in again).
But no need to do so as the goul was to emagine humanity as a whole bunch of peole, and it was one and only one big bunch af several billions of people seperated through out the world and still being one humanity.
Wouldnīt dare to think how Iīd be if I lost that ability.
I know the majority of people is soposed to think in words, somehow thatīs hard to believe. |
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nobodyzdream
Whistling in the dark...
Joined: Apr 24, 2007
Age: 28
Posts: 1935
Location: St. Charles, MO-USA
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:12 am Post subject: |
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I don't know how common it is to think in pictures.
My reading teacher and I were talking about this yesterday actually. She asked the class if when they read a story if they hear men's voices talking when they read and a man is talking or if they hear their own voice saying it. She asked if the voice changes depending on age, etc.
After class, I asked her if it was normal to think like that, lol. She said that everyone is capable of it, but it's a learned skill.
I then asked about what if we see things in our minds that is like watching a movie when we read. She said it's a VERY good skill to have, and she doesn't think that some of the students in our class have that ability as of yet, but that everyone is capable of it. She said for normal students it's extremely hard to get them to do that-they see what they are reading, hear the voices in their minds when someone in the story is talking, but that's as far as it goes until they learn how, and that I need to learn to tie voices to it.
Interestingly, she said that she thinks in pictures as well, as well as being able to hear the voices. She is also able to remember whether information is on the left or right side of the page when she is referencing to something, sometimes.
As far as how I normally think-besides that-if I'm going to make a grocery list, I "see" my hand writing the list in a notebook, if I'm trying to think of some information from a book, I see the pages and a hand skimming it sometimes if it's nothing I can associate with outside of that, but the words are always blurry. If my boyfriend starts off telling me how his day was, saying he was walking down the street, I see it as he talks and explains more. When he mentions one of his friends, if I haven't ever met them, I see the photo he's shown me flash in my mind as the name is said.
If I'm working on a project (this board game thing I want to get started on), I have to get like a "how to" movie going in my head. I visualize each step, then it ties together-at least how I'd like it to work out, it rarely does in RL, lol. But I see myself putting this thing together, I can see if it's day or night through the kitchen window, I even make time for interruptions in my mind, lol. I'll be imagining myself taping up the edges of this thing, then my 5 year old comes in and asks for a drink or something-I get it, then go back to what I was doing.
I can't for the life of me write most of this stuff down though as I think about it 
I've asked several people if they think in words, voices, or pictures... most of them cannot tell me though outside of WP.
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I'm my own guinea pig. |
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