Do you think in pictures?

[Aspiecats]

When i try and remember conversations etc i will relive the situation like i was re-watching it through my eyes.

I do the exact same thing.

 

[Bergs]

Fascinating question of this thread, that I hadn’t thought about before and I was going to choose the 3rd option, but went with the picture option. I wonder if alexithymia would be a contributing factor, as if ‘we’ can have trouble describing our emotions with words, would that also lead to using a visual representation in our minds of thoughts (just a weird theory that popped into my head ).
I have always thought of myself as a visual learner, ie. will YouTube a way to fix something instead of reading the manual (that might just be a male thing of not reading manuals/instructions though )

 

[Levitat0r]

Very much words, but I have been noticing that sometimes I have a sensation or "intuition" that there is some statement to be made, and then I have to go dig for the words. I might type out some nonsense statement, and then fill in additional words until it's what I felt I would eventually arrive at.

 

[agateboy]

Well my vote should be no rather than instead of I have know idea what you mean

 

[honeytoast]

Words.

I even think in a specific font - Times New Roman.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Pictures. Have a good imagination in film form.

 

[The Pandector]

My inner dialogue is in words, with which I am particular in my thoughts. But a major experience of my autism is creative. In a mostly uncontrolled manner, I’ll have a sweeping picture of some new scheme of things. Then, as @Levitator said, I go over the ‘picture’ so I can put it into words, because I need the words to make my picture practical. So, I can think in pictures, but I work with words.

 

[AuAL]

I think almost exclusively visually. I will visualise what computational algorithms do in a 3D space, then multiply the dimensions as necessary in the code. I like to literally see what the data is telling me - a big fan of “visual analytics”.
My wife gets frustrated if I ask for assistance with something (when I run out of hands for a task) because I often don’t specify what help is needed. (In my mind, “Can’t you see what is needed?”) I have to stop, “read” off the sequence of images in my mind, and then verbalise the actions needed.
I do not remember street names, but instead the images of what I remember seeing.
When remembering emotional situations, I can rarely describe them but I can relive the moments, triggered by an image of the scene, and experience the emotions again. But still can’t put detailed descriptions to them.
The exception is when I am writing academic papers - I will rehearse the structure of arguments, the phrases and terms I will use, going over them, and refining them. This can take days, then it all comes out onto the page in a stream of consciousness. I have done this so often that minor edits can be worked up in a few minutes but anything larger has me giving the appearance of procrastinating, which it isn’t as it’s like the duck on the pond, but it doesn’t help that I habitually procrastinate.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Curious I visualize every thing, mainly processes any one else here do this. starting to realize my ability is very rare.
and exceptional.

 

[Chailatte_]

This post is quite intriguing. I find it challenging to satisfactorily explain how I think..it's as though I think on multiple levels at once, and yet I'm distinctly aware of how deep each "layer of thought" is. It's similar to observing compositions of colored sand: if you have four colors (pink, yellow, blue, black), and you associate each "level" with one of these colors, you know which "level" you are thinking on. It's like viewing thoughts from the outside and seeing this "stratification," as if each layer has its own "threads/arrows" but manages to create a sort of bridge, connecting various things that seem similar yet different at first glance and bringing them together (each at its own level) without any level ever affecting another. I'm capable of observing it all as if I were a spectator, realizing that I'm stratifying, yet often I don’t realize that I'm getting lost behind stratification, or rather, I realize it but am too curious to stop.

I often see this process. Beyond that, I can't really explain the rest. I have a strong imagination, so it's often like having a very detailed cinema in my head. I can "do various things in my head," testing different options/ideas, mixing theories and probabilities with potential outcomes (in a controlled manner). When I look at an object, I can deconstruct it in my mind (I don't always do this, but when I know I have time and won't be interrupted).

The biggest "problem" is my vivid imagination, which often frightens those around me because I express it in conversations, and I might say things that people find strange, often earning me strange looks (a lifelong experience, especially as a child). For instance, the other day my friend with ADHD and I were talking about cats and dogs, and I imagined a black-and-white soap opera with a dramatic, unrequited love story between my cat and dog, complete with nostalgic, dramatic sounds. I laughed out of nowhere. When I told her, she added details, and together we created a soap opera (though neither of us likes them, we are familiar with the style since my mother was a big fan and the patterns of a soap opera are very clear to me). With her, these aspects of my character are not seen as strange but are appreciated and even enriched by her thoughts.

In everyday life, I avoid small talk because I don't have an intermediate mode and can't stop at "a superficial layer or a single angle of a layer; every layer for me has various faces that rotate and 'complete' each other to form a single layer or piece of thought." This often prevents me from giving quick responses as most people expect.

I unconsciously create connections and associations between themes that I consider similar in patterns or methods, even though they might be from separate disciplines. It's as if "my mind" doesn't see limits or boundaries between various fields but sees a single, unified language to "speak the world," using all the information to create new things even though "in society they might seem totally different; in the end, everything is created by man and everything always leads back to man." That's probably why I always mix everything together.

With music, I "see," "feel," "imagine," and "live" it as if I am blending into the symphony. I perceive the direction of sounds I can't explain it well, but I taste flavors in my mind and often create "music in my head" with various instruments.

 

[MNAus]

Words.

I even think in a specific font - Times New Roman.

Can I tempt you with Helvetica, Roboto???? Too sans for your liking? Perhaps a little Garamond might be nice? Or perhaps go wild and crazy with Hammersmith One!!!!!

 

[Misty Avich]

It's a well-known fact that the majority of the general population actually think in pictures.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

I find this question extremely difficult. I guess many of my thoughts are in words, but I don't see them, I just "hear" them. I often talk to myself when I'm alone, too. I actually find it hard to really think something through only in my head without writing it down or talking to someone about it just to steer my train of thought. It's like without that my thoughts are sort of all over the place. I don't have so much an inner monologue or dialogue, but more random words and phrases, interlaced with vague pictures, emotions, sounds.

I also think in pictures and sort of "movies", I guess. When I read, I see the words on the page but at the same time it's like in the backroom in my head a movie forms. It's like I have 2 visions at the same time when I read - when I try to focus too much on the inner movie, it disappears, though.
When I recall past memories, I usually see them as a sort of mini-movie scene, but more vague and blurry.

Incredibly hard question. I've thought about it before and still can't really answer it.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

I could visualize my work when I designed a system to make I-123 from a p,5n reaction by 70 mev protons on I-127. I could see the collisions, the daughter isotope production, its collection, and the ultimate decay to I-123.

 

[Andrew Is Not Funny]

It's more complex for me. Maybe this sounds unreal but... I think in video/animation with often an inner monologue which isn't necessarily always my voice. And recently I began thinking with memorized or even made up music also. It's not like I have hallucinations or anything, just a flexible and vivid fantasy. I was scared that I might have horrific visions or something after I received my schizophrenia diagnosis but that luckily never happened for some reason.

 

[Captain Mars]

Interestingly enough, I recently found out that I have hyperphantasia. Until recently, I thought everybody thought in crystal clear photo realism. I can conceptualize words and numbers as a visual concept, or assign meaning to them, but most of my thoughts either come in photorealistic depictions or within an inner monologue.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Interestingly enough, I recently found out that I have hyperphantasia. Until recently, I thought everybody thought in crystal clear photo realism. I can conceptualize words and numbers as a visual concept, or assign meaning to them, but most of my thoughts either come in photorealistic depictions or within an inner monologue.

That's neat probably rare checked, autistic trait, should give you an edge in certain types of jobs.

 

[Captain Mars]

That's neat probably rare checked, autistic trait, should give you an edge in certain types of jobs.

Yup, wish I had the chance to become a teacher. There'd be no more fitting a career.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I've been watching a few Temple Gradin videos on visual thinking I do not fit into her categories, not artistic cannot draw to save my life. The closest analogue to my way of visualizing is Albert EInstein he was in very rarified territory or a small category with few members. He was one in a billion, or others like me may be one in a million or in this territory,

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

The best analogy to how my mind works is think of two separate puzzles break them in to the individual pieces mix
then separate them into separate piles I can tell which pieces belong into which pile. sort of see it in no matter how well mixed. Even if both puzzles look similar all without assembling the puzzles.

What I find interesting is I assembled the puzzle for covid, only put it on this site Sort of relieved that the wider world is unaware.