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Do you think in pictures?

Do you think in pictures or words?

  • I think in Words!

    Votes: 40 19.1%

  • I think in Pictures!

    Votes: 145 69.4%

  • I have no idea what you mean! (This means you should post a reply to the thread)

    Votes: 24 11.5%
  • Total voters
    209
I have found as I get older that my internal dialog sometime alternates between words and simply an awareness of a concept. Its a little hard to describe, however, lets say you're about ready to be involved in a head on crash. Is your brain going to parse out what you need to do in words (turn left, straighten then accelerate) or are you just going to know what to do? Which is faster? Images and word have their place but so does intuition.
 
When I read a book yes I see images in my mind, not like a movie though. The description of seeing kids blocks with numbers on them when doing math, no I don't, usually I just think of the numbers. I guess it's a combination of words/images. When I'm dreaming, I see scenes/images but it freaks me out when I kind of dream like it's a movie. And I've heard that some people dream in color...I don't, it's always been black and white or what you'd see if your room was somewhat darkened, or like b/w tvs.
 
I think mostly in words and with an awareness of various concepts and how they articulate themselves. It's hard to explain. But I rarely visualise what I think about and when I do it's always blurry. I'm also incapable of visualising anything in more than 2D, if that makes sense. For example, if I have to think about my room, I can only have images of part of it. Like a photograph. But I can't visualise the whole room, which I know many people can.
I also can't make up a realistic human face in my mind. When I read, I don't visualise the scenes, so detailled visual description of places are almost meaningless to me. I only enjoy visual descriptions of characters or objects, individual things in general.
 
Definitely. Especially when listening to music, which is when I direct mental "music videos" with "shots" appropriate to the lyrics of whatever song I'm playing. One of my dream jobs is to be a director of actual music videos someday.

I also have what I call an "internal narrator" that "speaks" out my thought processes. It's not the same as actual, audible speech, but it operates at the same time as whatever I'm hearing with my actual ears. When I have to focus on someone actually speaking, then this narrator takes a back seat.
 
I have been pondering this ever since it became a hot topic. I've always claimed to think visually but I suspect it's more complex than that. I have an inner monolgue, an inner narrator who does not shut up but I have ADHD and am currently not medicated. When I am attempting to understand a concept I have two strategies. One is visualising it. I have heard myself say, of things I am struggling to understand, 'I cannot make a mental picture of that.' I also use analogies quite a lot and those are generally pictures in my mind so I use one picture to explain or create a picture for another concept.
 
When I read said:
I think I can relate to this. I have no patience for lengthy descriptions of locations and scenery in a novel and usually skim over it. That's probably because it's doing nothing for me-I am not making a mental picture.
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Both, and then some!!!!

I think in fully formed pictures, videos, words and sounds. I basically have another world in my head lol.
 
How fascinating! I mostly think in concepts - neither pictures nor words. I can do both too, but it takes effort. Visualising especially, very blurry. But 'knowing' or grasping the essence of something is how it usually flows in my head. Complex systems are the most beautiful - they just seem to be there in multiple dimensions. No colors or words or pictures, just meaning. Very weird, I have to admit.
 
Yes, because of this i have trouble understanding words i cannot picture while reading. I picture the words first and comprehend them later.
 
I hear sounds with things. Like at this forum, l visualize doors opening and closing to mimic people going from one post another. And l hear actually doors opening closing along with seeing it. Mildly weird if you ask me. I like to get lost in sounds, like wave sounds. I guess sensory details on a higher level entertain me. And a voice can grab me in a million ways but only with very few on the planet.
 
I think in words and I know different languages so I change the language I use and play with the words, I think in images, I think in memories and I think in abstract feelings/associated emotions/colors/whatever. I have different types of synesthesia. Basically, I have everythnig mixed up together. I'm all the time verbilizing about everything and trying to find the best words and formal concepts, I translate those thoughts in different languages, find systems, classify stuffs, and I can also visualize anything I want and be absorbed in this mental image and make it more and more detailed and basically create a virtual reality with a story. I can also just have a memory of something I saw visually that just stays printed. For example, if I think about a certain type of plant, I will verbilize mentally everything I know about it + have the mental image of the plant that pops up. I can describe it precisely to someone else because I simply see it. I don't know how I could write the number "26" without being able to see it visually, nor that I could talk different languages if I wasn't using them in my mind and play with them all day long. I love how my brain functions, it's very rich and fascinating.
I can't think only visually, nor only in words because both happen.
 
I think in pictures but also in words, I guess? I have a sort of internal dialogue, but I probably rely on visualizing things a lot more to understand them.
 
I think exclusively in pictures. I don't think in words at all. I don't even know how that would be done. Like seeing actual text in your mind?

I think in pictures to the degree that when I communicate with people, when I'm explaining something or recounting something I'm actually narrating the "video" or "storyboard" of my thoughts as I'm thinking/seeing them. To the point that it's easiest for me to close my eyes when I talk because I can focus on my visual thought best.

Also, something similar that I do that I assumed everyone else did but only found out a few years ago isn't the case: When I write, type or read text, the ONLY way I can do that is by having a voice say or read the words in my mind. It's impossible for me to write, type or read words otherwise. The words are aloud in my mind as I write, type or read them. I actually can't even comprehend how it's possible to do it otherwise, but apparently it is.
 
Magna said:
Also, something similar that I do that I assumed everyone else did but only found out a few years ago isn't the case: When I write, type or read text, the ONLY way I can do that is by having a voice say or read the words in my mind. It's impossible for me to write, type or read words otherwise. The words are aloud in my mind as I write, type or read them. I actually can't even comprehend how it's possible to do it otherwise, but apparently it is.
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I can't read or write any other way either and didn't know there are people that don't do that. I also can't comprehend how it's possible to do that differently.

Do you remember how you found this out?
 
HeroOfHyrule said:
I can't read or write any other way either and didn't know there are people that don't do that. I also can't comprehend how it's possible to do that differently.

Do you remember how you found this out?
Click to expand...

Yes, it was a post on WP. I don't remember the exact post or the specific subject, but someone remarked that they didn't have a narration in their mind when they were writing, typing or reading text. I'd said I'd never heard of such a thing nor did I think it was possible. Other people also said they didn't have a narration when writing or reading.
 
@Magna @HeroOfHyrule
Hmmm, if its what you are describing, then for me its just meaning that flows and is expressed as words on the page directly as I write - not in my head. This only happens if I get into the flow.
Picture a vase.... you can see it AND you know thats a vase. So maybe you can kind of comprehend knowing on its own without also a picture or a word? Dunno if that is any help at all really. Or have you ever smelled a fox or heard a bird sing and you know exactly what it is without seeing the whole thing?
I suppose its kind of like that.
 
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