Do you think in pictures?

[Loomis]

I do and until recently I thought everybody did. If I am adding two numbers in my head I see the numbers. If I am thinking about a concept like justice I see an image of a stern looking king from ancient Greece, godlike with a beard and sitting on a throne. That may seem highly imaginative but actually I am just recalling an image of justice I once saw in a church. (Remember aspies are not imaginative and creative.)

Anyway the idea of thinking in words sounds boring and weird to me. Now I have read that this causes problems for people in school. It never caused me any problems reading or taking notes in class.

This thinking in pictures thing seems to me like one of the big pluses of being an aspie.

 

[Arashi222]

Hey I don't know if I think in pictures so much as I am very visual person for someone who can't see properly. Everything is images in my head mostly.But I think that may be only Aspie boys, Aspie girls do have imagination but its the interaction with others that suffers generally not always though...just speaking from an aspie girl perspective. I have a lot of imagination. I have a whole world i created that I live in with my characters (that my dolls represent). I am like the historian from the DragonLance novels Astinus. But I do think in pictures I think that you can't rule out that its imagination though.

 

[King_Oni]

I feel I do think in pictures... but I do have a rather strong connection to language in general as well. Puns, jokes, stuff like that... I can easily apply those.

HOwever; my way of thinking in pictures quite often takes a surrealist turn and I visualize the weirdest stuff if someone tells me something. Things don't always add up. I have a hard time in imagining a setting from a book, yet I can create an environment from scratch when I'm doing my... well.. "artsy" stuff.

 

[banana bone]

Question here, Aspies are not imaginative or creative? Seriously? I kinda imagine numbers as blocks, Like 9 is a bigger block than 7 or 5. And it all just gets on or off like tetris.

 

[Cerulean]

I've always thought in pictures, I remember at some point my dad saying something about thinking in English and I told him I didn't think in words at all, and he just gave me this weird stare.

banana bone- I have an easier time doing higher math if I think of it that way. I remember when I was learning my times tables all of what I considered the families (40's, 50's, etc.) were different colors. Somehow this helped my brain learn them, I have no idea why.

 

[King_Oni]

Question here, Aspies are not imaginative or creative? Seriously? I kinda imagine numbers as blocks, Like 9 is a bigger block than 7 or 5. And it all just gets on or off like tetris.

That makes me wonder what age you are (don't have to tell us), because I could easily imagine someone being like this if one knew that game at a really early age or used something similar in school as a learning tool. A reason I don't do it, is because I got into videogames relatively late... late 80's (when I was 7 or 8) thus the tetris analogy didn't occur to me anymore.

 

[Kelly]

I think in pictures and words but the words are pictures that flash through my mind (think oompa loompa songs). When I read something I have lots of things flash through my mind. for example King Oni's last reply (blue for images, red for words).....

That makes me wonder(black/white spiral) what age(28) you are (don't have to tell us)(person with finger to lips saying ssssh), because I could easily imagine(brain) someone being like this if one knew that game(left4dead) at a really early age or used something similar in school(empty school classroom) as a learning tool(shovel). A reason I don't do it, is because I got into videogames relatively late(time)(clock)... late 80's (when I was 7 or 8) thus the tetris analogy didn't occur to me anymore.(nevermore)(raven)

This is how my brain works all the time and alot of the time I just ignore it but I think this is where some of my more random echolalia words come from, one word leads me to another then to a picture which leads me to another picture and so on and then I will blurt out a word relating to one of those but that makes no sense to what was being read/watched/discussed.

 

[Cerulean]

I do that too, Kelly. If I'm having a conversation I'll just jump to the end of it or go on this random tangent mentally and say something totally unrelated to what we're talking about. It amuses me but frustrates others

 

[Bay]

I do the random word or comment thing as well, usually after a mental roam-around while someone is talking. It makes sense in the context of where my mind went, but that is usually after two or three related subject changes in my mind. I can always piece together the route my mind has taken, though, for my bewildered conversation companion. "Well, you said ___ , which made me think of an article I read last week about ____ , which discussed the same theme as that movie we talked about last night where the main character looked like the neighbor, which reminded me that he came over this morning and borrowed the rake which I really need back because the leaves are a mess and I'd better water the garden." All of this takes a split second.

 

[buckyboy14]

No, I don't think I think in pictures, at least not too much. But maybe I do, and I'm just unaware of it. Hmmmm...

 

[banana bone]

That makes me wonder what age you are (don't have to tell us), because I could easily imagine someone being like this if one knew that game at a really early age or used something similar in school as a learning tool. A reason I don't do it, is because I got into videogames relatively late... late 80's (when I was 7 or 8) thus the tetris analogy didn't occur to me anymore.

I only had one obsessive stint at tetris when I was quite old (19). I used to ignore it before. I don't even play it much anymore. I am not sure if I used to think this way before tetris or not.

Oh wait, I do have a vivid(i think) imagination, head visuals, could have stemmed from earlier video games. I started playing by the dawn of 3D graphics and used to watch others play before that.

 

[Deno]

Do you think in pictures or words?

Think of something. Did an image pop in to your head or did words 'appear' to describe said thing? Amazingly enough, some people cannot think in pictures, they are unable to create an image in their minds eye. I have a theory that most if not all Aspie's think in pictures. So i'd just like you all to pick one on the poll, do you think in pictures or words? If you read this post, please take the time to choose one, if you do not understand or have a comment on this, post a reply. Thanks!

You may be thinking this is rubbish! everyone thinks in pictures! Well, that's what I thought too, but I have had the delight of meeting such people that are unable to do so. Must be something to do with the language circuit, not connecting to the occipital lobe in the same ways as other brains.

 

[Soup]

Re: Do you think in pictures or words?

I think in a combination of pictures & impressions. I don't know how to explain this: it isn't simply images equally weighted. some images are connected to a series of complex impressions. these ones I can remember in more detail. Images unconnected to an impression seem foggy & irrelevant as if my mind wants to discard them so it files them somewhere obscure.

 

[Deno]

Re: Do you think in pictures or words?

What is it you mean by impressions exactly? if you are able to explain it

 

[rolo]

Re: Do you think in pictures or words?

I think in a combination of pictures & impressions. I don't know how to explain this: it isn't simply images equally weighted. some images are connected to a series of complex impressions. these ones I can remember in more detail. Images unconnected to an impression seem foggy & irrelevant as if my mind wants to discard them so it files them somewhere obscure.

Soup- I am really keen to understand this better- would you have another go at explaining how you view the world- especially the part that you say "some images are connected to a series of complex impressions".

 

[Soup]

Re: Do you think in pictures or words?

HI ROLO! Welcome back from wherever you vanished off to. Long time no see!

Perhaps an example will clarify things... If I think about the resort we go to in Palm Beach, I get a picture of the resort.


I get pictures of the beach itself when I shift my attention to it. I then get a series of physical impressions associated with this beach: I feel warm sand on my feet. I feel the sensation of being inside of my Aspie hut. The blue hut thingy is what I'm referring to. It holds 2 chaises longues & completely cuts off all people from seeing you inside of it peripherally. It's deep & dark & you can hibernate in it & sleep or zone out or even go online. I get an impression of privacy. I can hear the sound of the waves breaking on the shore. I can smell the sea air.

How is this specific to THIS beach? When I think of an image of another beach in Camaguey, Cuba, I get very different impressions. YES, I feel the warm sand, but the other impressions (very physical) are distinct & only fit correctly into the Camaguey file. Camaguey does not include the Aspie hut sensations (basically a dark opaque cave) so the other image is preferable to me.

This is not a 'like/dislike' dualism but more of a preferable set of sensations designation. In several animal documentaries I've watched, they said that dogs & elephants also think this way & create memories linking images to physical sensations (comfort, cold, prickly etc.)

 

[rolo]

Re: Do you think in pictures or words?

Thanks Soup- now I know exactly what you are saying- I too think in pictures, sounds, smells, feelings-each one is totally unique-my memories of childhood are often awoken by a smell-I also have smells that have no name to them which are buried deep in my memory- I have the same sensory images that relate to people rather than events. Places also have a unique feeling to them which I always seem to pick up and never forget-I will often describe these places with a feeling or emotion or quite often a particular colour

 

[Soup]

Re: Do you think in pictures or words?

That's how it works for me too! Sometimes it can happen in reverse that a certain smell (like fresh Crayola crayons) can trigger a whole chain of memory images linked to the smell. Sometimes two linked scents can call up a complex series of memories & sensations that I wasn't consciously even thinking of. When I try to think solely in words or with words AND images simultaneously, my brain can shut down like a computer displaying the blue screen of doom.

 

[Loomis]

Re: Do you think in pictures or words?

The smell of tar brings back memories of one of the most awful jobs I have had. I was working on the labor gang in a tar plant. The tar plant made tar and creosote from coal. Creosote is the stuff they put on telephone poles and railroad ties to keep them from rotting. The labor gang is the lowest place on the workforce totem pole. If there is a nasty job needing to be done they call on the labor gang. I was in my twenties then and after working at the plant for three days the tender skin below my eyes reacted and puffed up due to the foul air. When my skin healed it was like alligator hide.

One day we had shipped a load of some kind of stuff in a railway oil tanker. It was one of those enclosed tankers with a small entry hole at the top. Whatever it was that was shipped in the tanker had hardened in the valve at the bottom of the car in the open position. So we had to get inside the tanker with a jack hammer and break up the hardened stuff to free the valve and allow it to be closed. It was a hot summer day and we have respirators on because the coal dust is everywhere inside the dark interior as we break up the clogged valve with the jackhammer. As you might guess it is also a bit loud so we have ear protection as well as the standard hard hat and eyewear. There were three of us and we each went down for twenty minute shifts until the valve could be closed. When I smell tar the image and feelings of being inside that nasty oil tanker come back to me. I do not like the smell of tar.

 

[Soup]

Re: Do you think in pictures or words?

Sounds like thankless filthy & hazardous work. I'd never even heard of it before now. I'd bet that exposure to such conditions cause long term health problems for many on the crew.