If you ask me to imagine a beach, not only do I visualize a very detailed beach, but I can add in how warm the sand feels on my toes, what the wind feels like in my hair, and the salty air. It’s very multi-sensory for me.
I immediately visualized a shiny, metallic, red star, on a chart, next to an old-school green chalkboard. I don’t know if this is a recollection of an actual childhood classroom or just what my brain thinks belongs around a red star.
When I’m spelling words, I write them in my head. When I’m giving directions, I visualize driving the route and dictate it as I “go.” I also picture the last place I saw something if it’s lost and constantly narrate in my head.
I guarantee if you asked me what’s on my desk at work right now, I could tell you every single item, exactly where it is, just by picturing it in my mind.
We have been talking about this off and on for 20 years, and I still don't get it! But he insists it's true. Like when I think words, I am hearing them, but he doesn't do this. What does happen? He can't say. It's all just concepts maybe?
From things I've read, words and language are extremely important for thoughts because our brains are able to think much more advanced thoughts and have smarter ideas because of language. Without language our thoughts are fear based or reactionary and that's it. Language means we have a code and framework which our brains use to make complex thoughts. So thinking not in words is like thinking not in thoughts.
Hmm, H is naturally quite anxious, and has talked about how his family's reactions are fear-based. I wonder if not thinking in language has something to do with that? He can visualize stuff in the same way Cleo and Nic are describing though.
cabbagecabbage, I'm still so impressed that you could so quickly produce a sketch that reproduced a pretty complex concept very clearly, spatially. If you are not a designer, you could be!
I see a star. And I don't always have to close my eyes in order to visualize something in my mind. Like I can look around and be seeing my living room with my eyes and think about and "see" the star in my head at the same time. But it helps to close my eyes.
Speaking of which, I worked very hard to be able to think without words. that had always been my default and I had to practice to have calm times when I don't. I can create that sometimes, but sometimes the calm gets run over by a song stuck in my head.
Right now, that "song" is the game of thrones theme song:
loooo doo lou di lou do lou di lou (Peter Dinklage, Peter Dinklage, Peter Dinklage) lou do lou di lou do lou di do...
Does anyone else have a photographic memory? Like, I can read passages in my head from documents that I’ve read or remember the way the page looked. It’s not uncommon for me to verbally explain to someone else exactly where to find something in a document without looking at it just by describing the way it looks. I’ll say something like, “look on page 24, halfway down the page, under the second heading”. I also can picture anything I want in my head including sounds and touch. In fact, my favorite part of the day is when I first go to bed because it is my own personal movie time.
This is so weird to me and honestly making me rethink how I say things to students when I have them visualize things.
I always see an actual image. If you tell me to imagine it, I have a picture in my head. I am having trouble processing that others don’t.
So when you are reading a book and they describe the physical appearance of a character, does that not form an image of the character in your mind?
It doesn’t for me. I could tell you what they look like as a list of facts but I don’t visualize it at all. I have zero pictures in my head. When a movie comes out from a book and the characters look differently from they were described in the book it makes no difference to me but I always hear from other people that it bothers them or that its not how they pictured it.
In school they would say “visualize a farmyard” or whatever and I never could. It wasn’t a big deal because I knew what was on a farm but I guess it was harder for me than it was for people who could visualize?
The only thing I feel like might have been harder for me in school was spelling and multiplication tables. My teachers were always telling me to visualize the word or the times tables and of course, I couldn’t. Until it was memorized, I was having to start from scratch. They really should have been differentiating more.
That said, I was always a good student, excellent test taker, great reader, good at directions/have a good sense of direction, never lose things, good at languages etc so I don’t think it really has any negative impact in school or the rest of my life.
It is difficult for me to remember spellings (especially names) from one thing to another. For example, if I read an article then want to look up the author it takes forever because I can’t just visualize their name. It’s also difficult when people are spelling things or telling me numbers over the phone or out loud. However that isn’t really something that comes up much and is just annoying.
Does anyone else have a photographic memory? Like, I can read passages in my head from documents that I’ve read or remember the way the page looked. It’s not uncommon for me to verbally explain to someone else exactly where to find something in a document without looking at it just by describing the way it looks. I’ll say something like, “look on page 24, halfway down the page, under the second heading”. I also can picture anything I want in my head including sounds and touch. In fact, my favorite part of the day is when I first go to bed because it is my own personal movie time.
See, I can remember exactly where something is in a book just like that but I’m not visualizing it, I just “know” that’s where it is. I have an excellent memory but I can’t visualize anything at all.
I do this all the time and I am so happy I am not the only one. lol
I do this too. But my husband, who like me is a writer, insists he doesn't even think in words. How is that even possible?
On certain topics, I don’t think in words. The concept I’m thinking about is so obvious and clear in my head but I struggle to put it into words so other people can understand. It’s very odd and frustrating. I always wonder “Why don’t you understand?! Why can’t you feel the understanding that I feel?”
Post by MixedBerryJam on Apr 25, 2019 7:04:47 GMT -5
Even after all the responses and explanations, when I'm trying to "see" the star I'm imagining, I close my eyes and imagine a red star and all I see is my closed eyelids. I think I have a pretty vivid imagination but I'm literally coming up blank on this test.
Yes to all those. Especially the last. I had very strong ideas about say, what Harry Potter's room should look like.
this can become a problem with any book I read that is made into a movie and I am bothered beyond belief when it does not line up to what i envisioned.
This is so true!
As a kid who was an avid reader, i got to a point where I didn't want the book to have pictures because it interfered with how I was picturing things in my head.
This is really cool. Follow up questions for other #6 people.
1. Can you imagine anything without pictures and visualization? Can you stop yourself from seeing a yellow banana in your head when you think of it?
2. Can you visualize a person very close to you? I can't visualize people very well but I can picture objects and places.
1. I'm sitting here trying to do that and no, I can't think of an image and not "see" it in my head. I'm trying really hard to describe something in my head with just words but the image always pops up. I describe things by describing what I see in my head and I can't image how it would work to not visualize. Never knew that was a thing!
2. Yes, if I know who a person is or if I see them on a regular basis then I can visualize them. When I use the phrase "I can't picture who that is" I mean that literally and it bugs me the way not remembering someone's name would.
So when you are reading a book and they describe the physical appearance of a character, does that not form an image of the character in your mind?
Most books I read and get an impression of a person more than a true visual.
I tend to read fiction so I focus on relationships, interactions, emotions, and details. That's also how I read poems. I get a barage of details and emotions that combine in my mind for a feeling. Only the best writing or most intense passages play cinematically in my mind. Like, if I'm reading about a woman who's conflicted and she's on the bus going to confront her friend, I'll focus on the nerves and maybe imagine looking down at hands in a lap on a bus seat or looking out the window as things pass. I don't imagine the color of the bus or what buildings are visible or rwally visualize the woman from afar. I don't imagine the sounds of passengers. I read quickly and even when I love a book, I don't savor it. Maybe that matters. Thats also probably why I love authors who write beautiful details.
I'm fascinated by people who literally see everything in their mind.
I can visualize the star in my mind. I do not actually see it with my eyes/on the back of my lids.
However, I have definitely had times when I actually do see moving colors/shapes with my eyes closed in a very dark room (or even when my eyes are open, if the room is pitch black). This post made me curious, and a little digging tells me that they are called phosphenes. Mine often look like a colorful version of the image on this post: www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/why-do-you-see-weird-patterns-when-you-rub-your-eyes/
Does anyone else have a photographic memory? Like, I can read passages in my head from documents that I’ve read or remember the way the page looked. It’s not uncommon for me to verbally explain to someone else exactly where to find something in a document without looking at it just by describing the way it looks. I’ll say something like, “look on page 24, halfway down the page, under the second heading”. I also can picture anything I want in my head including sounds and touch. In fact, my favorite part of the day is when I first go to bed because it is my own personal movie time.
No joke this is how I told my husband to find something last night. “Go up the attic stairs, straight across under the window, in the tall box under the twin sheets.” I had looked in that box a few days earlier and remembered seeing the thing there and everything else in the box.
In college I HAD to take my own notes because this is how I remembered the info - by picturing my notes.
This is really cool. Follow up questions for other #6 people.
1. Can you imagine anything without pictures and visualization? Can you stop yourself from seeing a yellow banana in your head when you think of it?
2. Can you visualize a person very close to you? I can't visualize people very well but I can picture objects and places.
1. Yes and no. If you say "yellow banana", I more or less see it in my imagination. And yet when I read books, I don't always generate a mental image of the characters, etc. If it's particularly descriptive I might, but for instance if I'm reading a fluffy book quickly, I don't always take the time to correctly remember various peoples' attributes. Actually, now that I think of it, I totally visualize them most of the time, just not always with the correct attributes because I wasn't really paying attention...
2. Yep! But describing them might be another matter, because I have an image in my head of them, not a list of attributes. For instance, my husband is always saying things like "that kid with the blue eyes" and I'm just like, I have no idea what anyone's eye color is, ever. I just don't think about remembering it that way. If I try really hard to visualize someone I've seen a lot I might be able to see in my mind's eye their eye color, but it's not a detail I automatically remember.
I can visualize, and I see things in my mind play out like a movie. I also have really vivid dreams - I wonder if those are related at all.
I can also listen to music in my head. Like, if I want to hear a song, I just can think of it and "hear" it. I remember lyrics very well, which makes me a rock star when I karaoke because I don't need to watch the words. lol
Not sure how else this has been helpful in life. When I have a nightmare, I have a visualization that I go to that I have used since I was a kid to self-soothe. I wonder if directing a film or something like that would be easier or harder if you can visualize things. I can see it either way - if you can picture what you want, you just do it. But what if its impossible to get it just right? Would you be better off if you only "saw" the basics of a scene.
I can also listen to music in my head. Like, if I want to hear a song, I just can think of it and "hear" it.
Same. I can play songs in my head, but I also get distracted sometimes when I do it and I end up in the middle of a different song. I also have an alarming amount of lyrics going through my head at any given time.
I can visualize, and I see things in my mind play out like a movie. I also have really vivid dreams - I wonder if those are related at all.
I can also listen to music in my head. Like, if I want to hear a song, I just can think of it and "hear" it. I remember lyrics very well, which makes me a rock star when I karaoke because I don't need to watch the words. lol
Not sure how else this has been helpful in life. When I have a nightmare, I have a visualization that I go to that I have used since I was a kid to self-soothe. I wonder if directing a film or something like that would be easier or harder if you can visualize things. I can see it either way - if you can picture what you want, you just do it. But what if its impossible to get it just right? Would you be better off if you only "saw" the basics of a scene.
I have very vivid dreams but can’t voluntarily visualize anything. I’m great at remembering lyrics after hearing a song once or twice and can “hear” songs in my head but they’re not in the original voices.