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Thinking in pictures vs ?

Thinking in words.
On a related note, its interesting to compare the thinking and processing of people reading Chinese as opposed to English.
There is no right or wrong way of thinking, but each has its pros and cons.
 
DogwoodTree said:
Verbal thinking (all in words)
Pattern thinking (tends to be visual, but not pictures that are tied to specific images you've seen)

Temple Grandin has a good chapter on this in her book The Autistic Brain.

This blog had a really good discussion in the comments about verbal thinking when reading/counting/etc:

http://inneraspie.blogspot.com/2012/01/inner-speech-do-you-have-it.html
Click to expand...
The blog post was interesting. I am dyslexic but I definitely have a voice in my head when I read, all the time actually. I suppose this may be why I have less trouble reading than other people with dyslexia.
 
I think in both words (I have a constant internal monologue, and often mental music playing in the background as well) and in pictures at the same time, but there is another facet also which I can only describe as thinking in 'feelings' (as in physical feelings). For example, if I am thinking about dancing, I can feel my body moving to the imaginary music, even though my actual body isn't moving at all... anyone undertand what I'm trying to describe?
 
I am very visual/spatial. My mind works with series of images both moving and still in very high definition that are presented in stacks that shuffle like playing cards.I process millions of images a day as I hyper-analize my surroundings at every waking moment that at times can become very distracting as minutia is observed in everything I look at and more images are tossed into the piles. I have called it my flurry due to lack of a better description. It can either locate a single image that applies to a thought,or places other images,related or not in other "folders" for further review and comparison. I can test mechanisms in full motion inside my head,often the three dimensions. I was a very skilled mechanical engineer in my former occupations because I can visualize a process before the engineering even hits a drawing board. I had at times used very schooled engineers as mere draftsmen often only giving them rough napkin sketches to get my points across because they could not visualize what I already got to see inside my brain. From what I understand from my studies of my condition,the end result will most likely be a form of psychosis,although it will be very hard to determine because I am half nuts already :D

When I first discovered that I was possibly aspergic,I was shown the movie Temple Grandin as a possible example of what went on inside my head. It hit pretty hard and fast for me because I could now show others a taste of what was going on inside of my head. I consider Temple to be primarily an animal behaviorist with a knack for engineering because she can walk her way thru a cattle processing plant and see what the cattle see.
Thru sheer determination,I located a telephone number and contacted Dr. Grandin at her assistant's desk at her university she works out of while she was on a speaking tour. Temple contacted me a few weeks later and we had quite a lengthy conversation about me. It was shortly afterwords that I got my autie confirmation and was granted my status on the autism spectrum. I often remark that I would have never been considered for an aspie status when it was still a part of the diagnostic game in the USA due to a history of late speech development. I was instead considered a bit more in line with classic autism that went the little Einstein route after the former mute began to talk. This autie is not an aspie by definition,but also very proud to be autistic at the same time because it made me who I am.
I run a constant dialog in my head as I read on top of the images that are present,but often do not need to read something again after seeing it one time because I can see internal pages like a book was right in front of me if my brain deems it worthy of recognition.
I still claim a self-diagnosed higher functioning status because it was me who made the discovery first and pushed my team of brainiacs to consider it who were working on my TBI issues at the time. My confirmation included prodigious autistic savant in my title because of my visual based memory skills,but even I still have my doubts about it.
 
The good news. Made designing websites easier. I could see my designs in my mind.

The bad news. I couldn't explain in words to others to make them understand the ideas I could visualize in my own mind.
 
NothingToSeeHere said:
The blog post was interesting. I am dyslexic but I definitely have a voice in my head when I read, all the time actually. I suppose this may be why I have less trouble reading than other people with dyslexia.
Click to expand...
I am a little dyslexic too...my sympathies on that it is a real plague.:confused:
But I did learn late to read phonetically, and read now like a fish swims in water.

I am not quite as strong as Nitro on the imaging, but I have other mysterious talents as well, but I do have real trouble retaining thought memories is they are not attached to a picture form of some kind. When I was trying to build my self a custom 26' pocket yacht I had to write every measurement down in a little note book or after 3 or for steps away to cut the piece of wood...I would okay what was that measurement again???:confused: VERY ANOYING to say the least....same with text :confused: and audio instructions :confused: Zero almost short term memory....I convert books into movies to remember!
 
I think 100% with a voice in my head, my own voice. I can imagine pictures in my mind when daydreaming but I sometimes find it hard to maintain or my inner voice starts pondering on certain details- 'you're in a room, what is the flooring like though?' And it all fizzles out.
 
I think mostly in pictures. I have never made a conscious decision to think like this, it is just the way that I am. It helps a lot when I am trying to solve a technical problem. I can see possible solutions in my minds eye, test the solution and determine whether it is likely to work or not. When I am thinking I do not see or hear words. It is just another way that we are all different.
 
Funny to recall building complex plastic models at seven years of age. Written instructions would confuse me. But those exploded diagrams showing only the parts...it was easy to figure out how things fit together. :)
 
For me I do in various ways, varying with what I'm thinking about. I also get stuck with translating both to and from words into other forms such as mental feeling.

I tend to look at words (e.g., from an instruction manual) for how they are defined and visualise the end result from the words put together.

When reading or talking about psychiatry or neurology, I guess I look at it more like I would with say a maths problem, looking at the components and the end result, cause and effect. I'd say I do the same with computer stuff, working out stuff that appears logical.

When I come across grammatical mistakes, structure error in sentences or bad choice of words while reading something can throw me off to the point of either getting stuck re-reading the sentence until I am able to come up with a logical interpretation in my head or finally just giving up.

When trying to verbally explain something to someone (e.g., how I am feeling and why), I get stuck often with a blank mind, feeling very anxious and because of that keeping my mind blank for even longer. If you were to ask why I'm depressed, I may not be able to answer. If I take the time to write what and how I am feeling without having the pressure to produce, I'm better at doing so, but I'm also bad there because I can end up taking hours to complete it and end up at times expanding into other not directly related topics.
 
Y'all that say you think in pictures have the ability to recall most of what you have ever viewed? Another question is can you see total details or blurry images. I have studied a great deal about me and have pondered the possibility of being eidetic which is a condition usually reserved for the younger people that fades in time. Some go on to adulthood with the condition, an unusually vivid subjective visual phenomenon. An eidetic person claims to continue to “see” an object that is no longer objectively present. Eidetic persons behave as if they are actually seeing an item, either with their eyes closed or while looking at some surface that serves as a convenient background for the image. Furthermore, eidetic persons describe the image as if it is still present and not as if they are recalling a past event. The incidence of eidetic imagery is very low in children (2–10 percent) and almost nonexistent in adults.
Do you get moving clips for stronger memories? Can you move about while inside your internal moving images if you get those?
 
Judge said:
Funny to recall building complex plastic models at seven years of age. Written instructions would confuse me. But those exploded diagrams showing only the parts...it was easy to figure out how things fit together. :)
Click to expand...
I don't remember being a very strong reader at age 7 either

I get and retain exploded views of assemblies while taking things apart ;)
 
Nitro said:
Y'all that say you think in pictures have the ability to recall most of what you have ever viewed? Another question is can you see total details or blurry images. I have studied a great deal about me and have pondered the possibility of being eidetic which is a condition usually reserved for the younger people that fades in time. Some go on to adulthood with the condition, an unusually vivid subjective visual phenomenon. An eidetic person claims to continue to “see” an object that is no longer objectively present. Eidetic persons behave as if they are actually seeing an item, either with their eyes closed or while looking at some surface that serves as a convenient background for the image. Furthermore, eidetic persons describe the image as if it is still present and not as if they are recalling a past event. The incidence of eidetic imagery is very low in children (2–10 percent) and almost nonexistent in adults.
Do you get moving clips for stronger memories? Can you move about while inside your internal moving images if you get those?
Click to expand...
I work in a grocery. When I'm asked for certain product, I visualize main area...section...shelves...product and color of label. When making jewelry, I build it in my mind and can see if its balanced . wear well etc... I'm pretty sure I'm more in my thoughts than on the earthly plane actually. The eidetic memory of "Reed" on criminal minds was who started me on my road to 'aspiedom'. He's my hero.
 
laurag9g9g9 said:
I work in a grocery. When I'm asked for certain product, I visualize main area...section...shelves...product and color of label. When making jewelry, I build it in my mind and can see if its balanced . wear well etc... I'm pretty sure I'm more in my thoughts than on the earthly plane actually. The eidetic memory of "Reed" on criminal minds was who started me on my road to 'aspiedom'. He's my hero.
Click to expand...
Mostly the same for me laurag9g9g9 ,I rotate and make things in my head....I am in this world only a small part of the time...which gets me in trouble with the NTs they assume every look I have has meaning:confused:...actually I don't even know they exist half of the time.:(
 
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