How do you think?

[onlything]

Hi there all.

For the last few weeks I had a question that I tried to answer, so far without succes. Mainly - how do other people think? How do their general thinking during the walk to work differs from thinking in ideas?
I have received a few answers during @the_tortoise 's thread but it didn't create a 'full picture' for me. How does it work for different people? And what possible fascinates me the most - how does it differs between NTs and NDs?

Is it fully verbalised like an internal conversation? Is it auditory? Visual, like mine? How do you remember simple things?

Everyone is welcome to answer.

 

[Katleya]

I have a constant internal conversation, but it's a little like the voice in my head was giving a presentation. Once I need to understand, dissect or analyze something, the images will show up and organize themselves, just like a well-made Powerpoint slide. I'm not saying I see charts and diagrams, though

 

[Gritches]

I can't actually find this anywhere so take it with a grain of salt (I think it's a concept from Hinduism actually) but there are apparently four levels of thought:

1. Public speech: speech you say to others
2. Private speech: talking to yourself
3. Inner monologue: self-explanatory, talking to yourself in your head
4. Conceptual thought: wordless concepts, often pictures, that are understood but lack any verbal attachment to the thoughts themselves

Apparently we use all four, but again, I have no idea where I learned that (it sure as hell wasn't a school) so be careful putting too much stock into it. But I like it as an observation if nothing else.

More to the topic, the way I think is kind of a blend. The whole picture/conceptual thinking never stops even for a second, it's always playing like someone else has the TV remote and is flipping through channels constantly, but for navigating my day I find myself either talking to myself to guide myself through the actions I need to take step-by-step or sort of pretend like I'm talking to someone else in my head (an imagined other), to the same ends.

Strangely though, when I was on Adderall/Vyvanse/Ritalin (I was for years, am no longer though I should be) it was different. I didn't have to use the self-talk to function; I just acted automatically while an intense conversation usually with an imagined other raged in my head about anything and everything. I suspect the difference is in the level of executive functioning.

 

[convallaria]

I mostly think by visual images. when I need to say something out loud, I just turn the visual images from my head into words. it's not always easy, but if I get time to think, I formulate good sentences.

I also create fictional people or smart animals, whose lives in fictional places in my head, and these characters voice my thoughts (like speeches and dialogues with each other). I sort of separate my identity, distributing it between the characters. some characters are more positive, others are more negative, but they are all part of me. they absorb my emotions.

creating a new character, i live part of his life (oh my god it's very strange but I think you'll understand) in my head, it frees me from the emotion that triggered me to create this character.

if the feeling does last long, I write stories about that characters in my head. they are read by my best friend and she says that I'm very good at writing.
but if the emotion that absorbed me, when i was creating the story, passed, then i cant end it.

I recently communicated with a fictional psychiatrist in my head, who helped me sort out the problems. I thought it was something like depression or schizophrenia.

 

[Tulipa]

I think by visual images too. Sometimes it's not comfortable, because the person say something and I see the picture in my head, even if it's not imaginable. It's often funny and I start to laugh.
When I think about something, that is worrying me, I imagine the psychologist too and talk to her/him in my head. Or I imagine the person, who I want to speak with.
But also I can remember the math formulas very quickly by imagining them. It's not working with text, because it's too much too insert it in one picture.

 

[onlything]

I mostly think by visual images. when I need to say something out loud, I just turn the visual images from my head into words. it's not always easy, but if I get time to think, I formulate good sentences.

I also create fictional people or smart animals, whose lives in fictional places in my head, and these characters voice my thoughts (like speeches and dialogues with each other). I sort of separate my identity, distributing it between the characters. some characters are more positive, others are more negative, but they are all part of me. they absorb my emotions.

creating a new character, i live part of his life (oh my god it's very strange but I think you'll understand) in my head, it frees me from the emotion that triggered me to create this character.

if the feeling does last long, I write stories about that characters in my head. they are read by my best friend and she says that I'm very good at writing.
but if the emotion that absorbed me, when i was creating the story, passed, then i cant end it.

I recently communicated with a fictional psychiatrist in my head, who helped me sort out the problems. I thought it was something like depression or schizophrenia.

Not the same but sounds similar to DID(dissociative identity disorder) that is created as a coping mechanism by victims of severe trauma. I wonder if your system works using similar rules.

It is familiar to me. I had something like this as a child and a teenager, so I understand to the extent what you mean.

 

[onlything]

I think by visual images too. Sometimes it's not comfortable, because the person say something and I see the picture in my head, even if it's not imaginable. It's often funny and I start to laugh.
When I think about something, that is worrying me, I imagine the psychologist too and talk to her/him in my head. Or I imagine the person, who I want to speak with.
But also I can remember the math formulas very quickly by imagining them. It's not working with text, because it's too much too insert it in one picture.

Agreed. Though it can become troublesome when you have to convert your thoughts into words to answer. I found out that words themselves are so limiting that if possible I don't use them. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that.

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

I remember when i used to read a lot, i could remember the shape of the words on the page but not the words.
So that's about as useless as it gets.

I also have the continous monologue.

I'm mostly verbal. Cant picture faces well or at all. Hence writing an descriptive aspects i mostly dismiss. Ideas and concepts i can get lost in.

Really don't have much of a visual imagination but its hard to compare to others.

 

[Judge]

Without trying to be overtly humorous? How do I think? Ok, quantitatively on a scale between one and ten I'd rate a 47.

Yes, I wish I could tone it all down much of the time. Especially having a penchant for thinking of worse-case scenarios when a situation doesn't even merit such a consideration. But yeah, that's MY thought process.

Though yes, I tend to think in pictures more than anything else. That I like.

I often wish my brain had an "off switch" at night, rather than merely depend on REM sleep.

Sound familiar to any of you?

 

[convallaria]

I found out that words themselves are so limiting that if possible I don't use them.

did you watch the tv series sense8? this is a amazing series and one of my favorites. in it people can communicate with the help of feelings and not words. and this people call their species homo sensorium

 

[onlything]

did you watch the tv series sense8? this is a amazing series and one of my favorites. in it people can communicate with the help of feelings and not words. and this people call their species homo sensorium

I didn't but I have to agree that it does sound interesting.

 

[convallaria]

I didn't but I have to agree that it does sound interesting.

this series was closed after the second season. I feel terrible because of this. really good series are of no interest to anyone and no one wants to fund them. and stupid sitcoms release in the course of 100 meaningless seasons.

 

[xudo]

I'd say fully verbalised, like an internal monologue.

 

[Chance]

I remember when i used to read a lot, i could remember the shape of the words on the page but not the words.
So that's about as useless as it gets.

I also have the continous monologue.

I'm mostly verbal. Cant picture faces well or at all. Hence writing an descriptive aspects i mostly dismiss. Ideas and concepts i can get lost in.

Really don't have much of a visual imagination but its hard to compare to others.

I think very visually but the people are faceless most the time, everything else is vivid and crisp. Its my normal but to explain it... It sounds kind of gross. Familiar faces of course not an issue and sometimes if a person does something out of the ordinary, I will remember them the next time I see them...

At work I see so many people that know me, and I know I have seen them many times, but I just get lost and embarrassed when I cant put a name with a face, knowing I should be able to do that, but often cant until its after the fact...

 

[Rasendra]

I think very visually but the people are faceless most the time, everything else is vivid and crisp. Its my normal but to explain it... It sounds kind of gross. Familiar faces of course not an issue and sometimes if a person does something out of the ordinary, I will remember them the next time I see them...

At work I see so many people that know me, and I know I have seen them many times, but I just get lost and embarrassed when I cant put a name with a face, knowing I should be able to do that, but often cant until its after the fact...

This is the same for me, I thought it was weird for a while that people are more faceless but I think part of it is I don't look people in the eye much so the rest of the person including their personality is the person more than their face if that makes sense. In any case it's nice to know I'm not a weirdo and other people see things similar. I read a lot and notice that I can picture characters quite vividly, especially their personalities and even down to their hair except their face isn't like that.

 

[SusanLR]

Continous internal monologue.

In fact just this morning before I got up, I was thinking about almost this same subject.
What is this constant verbal process I hear to the point of feeling it inside my head?
Starting musing over how the different areas of the brain and synapses fire, what chemicals are in use, etc. The anatomical processes and how the center of my brain is the seat of ME.
If I am not verbalising in my mind thoughts that go from one thing to another like a runaway train, then it's like a radio may as well be in my head. When not consciously thinking, there is always a song or music in my head.
It's just there.
I took Paxil once and it almost silenced the constant internal verbalising.
Didn't like it. That just isn't me. Felt like I had been shot with novacaine that numbed my brain.
I didn't like the sound of silence in there.

Secondly though, I also visualise a lot.
I like to mentally see arranging things, how to put something together, seeing how to do something and how it will look after before doing it, the finished painting and how to make it so step by step, things like that.
My memory works the same way.
If I want to really remember something, I look at it, take a mental picture then I can remember it.
Words aren't that easy to memorise.

people are more faceless but I think part of it is I don't look people in the eye much so the rest of the person including their personality is the person more than their face if that makes sense

Same here and same reason.

 

[Chance]

This is the same for me, I thought it was weird for a while that people are more faceless but I think part of it is I don't look people in the eye much so the rest of the person including their personality is the person more than their face if that makes sense. In any case it's nice to know I'm not a weirdo and other people see things similar. I read a lot and notice that I can picture characters quite vividly, especially their personalities and even down to their hair except their face isn't like that.

I think you are exactly right... I don't look people in the eye or study their faces because it makes me so uncomfortable to do so... Therefore NO FACE!!! I never thought of that before... Why I don't know.
Like if a guy is wearing a shirt or something I like, I can remember any detail of that (example) just like its a picture on my phone. Good job... now I don't feel so weird.

 

[Nitro]

Without trying to be overtly humorous? How do I think? Ok, quantitatively on a scale between one and ten I'd rate a 47.

Yes, I wish I could tone it all down much of the time. Especially having a penchant for thinking of worse-case scenarios when a situation doesn't even merit such a consideration. But yeah, that's MY thought process.

Though yes, I tend to think in pictures more than anything else. That I like.

I often wish my brain had an "off switch" at night, rather than merely depend on REM sleep.

Sound familiar to any of you?

My memories are best described as micro-bursts of images. They are delivered in packets so to speak and presented as flash cards in stacks that fan before my mind's eye.

I named that part "the flurry" because of the amount of images that are presented at once. We're talking thousands of them at a clip,but the most perplexing part is the ability of my brain to maintain a filing system and gather the appropriate sets of images to look over. Often,there is only one image that gets highlighted after the review is over,and it is usually spot on.

My images are very high in definition and often the stills are presented in a 3D fashion if the memory is strong enough.
In those presentations,I have the ability to look at the image from different angles.
That came in handy during my work as both a machinist and mech. engineer. I have the ability to test mechanisms in real time before any parts are made,so it saved me tons of time working out complex movements without trial and error.

I also get very highly detailed and refined moving images that sometimes take the actual time the original memory took to occur. Those are kind of freaky because they get played back exactly as they occurred in the beginning.

I have an on/off switch for my conscious brain and my sleeping brainwork. The pros called it narcolepsy because I enter REM sleep in under one minute every time.They didn't have a solid reason for it,but now I suspect it is a defense mechanism that lets things cool down after being bombarded with images every waking minute and probably throughout the time I sleep.
I mean it must take some of that time to sort and catalog the stuff,but that is something I may never get to know.That would require quite a lot of reviewing,don't you think?

 

[tw3]

Some of my thinking is in imaginary conversations which are repeated until it sounds right, like play acting which is useful for social situations and teaching.

Deeper stuff, like science, philosophy, and Christian apologetics's goes into an almost visual nonsymetrical grid wherein some topics develop some kind of symmetry with others. These unified symmetries blend into a visual pattern that represents reality, absolute truth, to me.

This visual pattern appears to be amorphous, but queries prompt the presentation of relevant concepts and information and possibly a few empty places where information is not yet in place. It's as if a pin point grows into a text bubble larger and deeper than it appeared visually.

There is a lot more to this, but I think that will give you a clear picture.

 

[stringer]

"I can't actually find this anywhere so take it with a grain of salt (I think it's a concept from Hinduism actually) but there are apparently four levels of thought:

1. Public speech: speech you say to others
2. Private speech: talking to yourself
3. Inner monologue: self-explanatory, talking to yourself in your head
4. Conceptual thought: wordless concepts, often pictures, that are understood but lack any verbal attachment to the thoughts themselves"


As far as I can tell, I lack the 4th level entirely. I have aphantasia and don't see any mental images at all. Before I realised that (I had always just assumed that people were speaking figuratively when they said they had mental imagery, and that like me they never actually saw mental images at all), I would sometimes ask the question "How could we ever "think" about anything if we didn't have a language to think in?". I would often get blank bewilderment in response, from people who would say they commonly had thought processes that depended primarily on mental imagery.

Anyway, the only way I can ever think about anything is by having an internal conversation with myself. If I didn't have a language to use for my inner dialogue, I cannot imagine being able to think about anything.