Mental visualisation.

[reverse]

Do you think that some people think in words , while others think in pictures…some even might think in feelings or numbers?

 

I myself for example can easily visualize complicated shapes and rotate split combine etc…and then draw and build what I visualise.

 

I was wondering if everyone naturally does this or has each person got a particular strength?

[YT2095]

that`s a VERY Good question!

 

I`ve often wondered the same myself, I have difficulty at times explaining things that I understand, I can`t seem to always put them in words or even be able to say them, I think in Feelings and pictures, never words or numbers or sounds etc...

 

I find this difficult at times and am frequently misunderstood as a result, or not even understood at all an appear as a "weirdo" to some, I often sit silently when asked a question, because I`m trying to find a way to word it, and when rushed because the other party is impatient for a response, I make a mess of it

 

Visualisations and geometry come very easily to me, as do "feelings" some are like Colors, I see some Numbers as colors for instance (yeah sounds crazy I`m sure, I`ve heard it all before too!).

some sounds are like shapes to me also, some shapes have a color too.

 

it doesn`t impede my clarity of thought in any way, or my ability to know and do things that some may never even consider, I see patterns quite easily too, and that helps.

 

I often wondered if it was because I`m ambidextrous(sp?) or Equi-manual as a mate once put it

using both sides of the brain equaly?

 

who Knows! ))

[reverse]

Cool.

 

It's good to know that someone else is spatial and emotive in the area of mental visualisation.

 

How do you suppose other people see the world?

 

Can you draw complicated images very well?

 

What about music....can you see the waveforms of the instruments as they interact ?

[Bettina]

Do you think that some people think in words ' date=' while others think in pictures…some even might think in feelings or numbers?

 

I myself for example can easily visualize complicated shapes and rotate split combine etc…and then draw and build what I visualise.

 

I was wondering if everyone naturally does this or has each person got a particular strength?[/quote']

 

I think in pictures and feelings. I can visualize a 4D cube now after seeing the 4D cube dynamic demo but can't hold it. It is the hardest thing I have ever tried to visualize, but momementarily, I can hold it. Like you, I can build things in my mind from pieces I think up like space wheels, towers, bridges, etc. I can mix the shapes to create other shapes too.

 

I can get into a trance like state when I am really into it. So much so, that you get startled if the phone rings and all my shapes get destroyed.

 

Does that happen to you?

 

Bettina

[reverse]

Hi B.

 

No, I don't think I am as deep into the images as you are.

 

I would really be interested to hear from someone who thinks in words or numbers or some other strength.

 

Anyone?

[YT2095]

How do you suppose other people see the world?

 

Can you draw complicated images very well?

 

What about music....can you see the waveforms of the instruments as they interact ?

 

in order, I`ve no idea, it would be interesting to find out though!

 

I can`t draw to save my life! Rolf harris I am NOT

 

actualy yes I can, it`s a learned ability though, I used to program Analogue and Digital synths and the use of osciloscopes was part of it, and so I know what certain sounds and waveforms match, so I guess that doesn`t count.

 

the Natual ability is more like shapes and colors moving though, some sounds even have a feeling to to them.

 

it would be interesting to see how it changes for someone that thinks in words though, how do they interpret music?

[inbred]

As far back as I can remeber all sounds and thoughts take on a visual image. Certain words and noises have particular shapes, colors and movements. They can change at times but usually remain somewhat the same. I thought everyone experienced this until I was in my mid 20's (I am now 56). When I first talked to someone else about it I was suprised to find out that most people don't have this. My identicle twin brother also has this and he too thought everyone did. Thoughts may not take on any visualization that seems to relate to the thought but sometimes they do. Music seems to have the most complex visualizations for me. The use of psychedelic drugs in the 60's really brought it out to an extreme. Sound familiar to anyone? By the way this is my first post and hello to all.

[YT2095]

Hi and welcome

 

I`ve never voluntarily taken any such drugs, so my experience with them was mostly fear, the colors and stuff were the least of my concerns at that time!

 

from what I can tell, all this sounds very similar to Synasthesia(sp?) but in a natural way, I`m sure Glider will be able to help explain all this in a much neater and concise manner

 

now then, where`s my Pager????

[RICHARDBATTY]

I believe most folk think in pictures to some extent. Lots of memory training involves visualising. Objects are visualised but words like get aren't in my own personal experience. Maybe this is just an easy way for the brain to carry out tasks. Like "get in the car" is broken up into sections. The car and the image of entering the car is in the visual part of the brain and get into is in the reasoning part. A picture also paints a thousand words. How would a blind from birth person think. Maybe they would think in sounds. Deaf and blind, maybe touch sensations.

[Glider]

Hi and welcome

 

from what I can tell' date=' all this sounds very similar to Synasthesia(sp?) but in a natural way, I`m sure Glider will be able to help explain all this in a much neater and concise manner [/quote']

It sounds like mild synaesthesia to me too. Synaesthesia is a natural phenomenon presented by about 1 in 500,000 and is characterised by stimuli specific to one sensory modaility (e.g. taste, audition, vision, touch) eliciting responses from another sensory modality (i.e. a sound eliciting an image, a taste eliciting a somatic sensation). The key points for it to be synaesthesia are a) the extra modal response must be 'real' and not imagined, and b) the stimulus - response link must be stable over time, i.e. the same stimulus should elicit the same extra modal response over time.

[Royston]

I saw a programme recently where following an epileptic seizure this guy developed synaesthesia. He was also midly autistic but still retained good social skills.

 

He interpreted images into numbers. When asked (particularly hard) maths equations he would see shapes that specified certain numbers and when the shapes came together he could tell you the answer.

 

In one experiment he recited pi to 20,000 decimal places !

 

I'm fascinated by this condition, especially where it can be used to an advantage.

 

http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/synaesthesia/links.html

[Royston]

In one experiment he recited pi to 20' date='000 decimal places ![/quote']

 

Erm. that might of been 2000, but still very impressive.

[iglak]

i have a friend who sees music.

when he hears sounds, he sees different shapes and colors that represent them. i asked him if he could identify the shapes and colors, or if they are possibly shapes and colors that aren't normal, or aren't possible to anyone else. he says that they are definitely real shapes and colors, but he can't identify them.

 

he's very good at composing music, but most of that is because he has practiced a whole lot, and is quite interrested in it.

 

he also said that sometimes, if the music is extremely complex, strong, and well-made, it can overpower his sight with the colors and shapes, making it kind of hard for him to see.

 

 

he's bad at math. when he looks at numbers and equations he can't identify what the numbers are, or even that they are numbers, until he concentrates a bit harder. it's like when you're first starting to type, and you have to look at all of the letters before you press them to make sure you are typing the right letter; or when you're first learning how to read, and you need to sound out the words before you can know what they mean. i tried to teach him some math at one point, and he understood the concepts fairly quickly, but he couldn't apply them. i could show him how to do something, and he understood it well enough, but he couldn't apply the same concept to a different set of numbers very easily.

 

 

 

as for me, i'm very good at organizing things. i can visualize 3d objects very easily, and i'm good at most arts. however, i'm not very creative. i can't think of multiple ways to mold an object to determine what's best, i can only create a new object (or piece) from scratch. when i'm organizing things, though, i can easily think of multiple ways to determine what's best. i took calculus 2 years before everyone else i knew, so i'm fairly good at understanding math. but i didn't do too well in calculus. i had trouble thinking of multiple ways to work out the problems, although part of that was because i didn't study

 

my friend, when making music, can think of a whole bunch of different things to do with the piece, and can chose one of them to work with from there, and he can do that very quickly. i, on the other hand, can only follow what my original piece was going to do, and i do it fairly slowly. i can't easily change it. i'm terrible at changing keys, but i'm great at making music using only one key. i spend a lot of time improving portions of my music, and i repeat a lot of things; while he spends more time adding things on to his music, and doesn't repeat as much.

[Glider]

Claude Debussey was a synaesthete. He used to compose according to how the music 'looked' to him. If you listen to any of his music, you can see, sorry, hear, that it is very different from other music contemporary to him.

[pljames]

I just read a book which states Einstein saw images,symbols and such then translated them int mathematical theories and words. I to can do this. i love words more tho because I see the images of the word in my mind as well. I don't shout this from the rooftops. I see words as mathematical symbols and three dimesional forms of anything I can imagine. I am NOT equating or realting( word play here) but I am deeply concerned about these images and symbols in my mind. Question, psychologically speaking (I have the basic's in psychology only) should I worry about my mental health? I also think constantly, I love to solve personal problems.pljames

[Luminous]

I think in ideas. im really good at understanding concepts and ideas and different points of views and stuff. But i suck at processing numbers =P Couldnt do easy multiplication or division in my head to save my life. On paper its different of course, even though i never was great in math. Im also not really good at visualizing objects like planning out what something would look like if a made it or so.

[Glider]

Question, psychologically speaking (I have the basic's in psychology only) should I worry about my mental health? I also think constantly, I love to solve personal problems.pljames

Do you think your state of mental health is cause for concern? Does your ability to see these images prevent you from coping, or doing what you would normally do? Do you have problems dealing with daily tasks or interacting with friends? If you don't have any such problems, then consider your ability an 'extra' rather than a problem.

 

If you go from day to day with no more trouble that the rest of your friends, you have nothing to worry about.

[Sholtzy]

I seem to think in a way that hasn't been expressed here. The best I can describe is that I think in structures or processes. I am a perfectionist, and seeing this thread makes me wonder, if maybe the way I think has something to do with that. I do have what I would consider a powerful imagination, however to outwardly express it in a way that shows an imagination seems next to impossible. It always comes out very structured and complex. My math skills are really good, or at least the potential of having really good math skills. As a freshman in high school I took geometry, I did and still do love math, but peer pressure kept me from continuing beyond. Visualization of shapes though, is difficult. I can visualize 2D objects and hold them without a problem, anything more than that can't be held. I can try to think about a cube, for example, however, it's only a flash of a cube in my mind, and before I could even speak out loud that I was visualizing a cube, my brain has already allowed it to decompose. Even to try to draw a shape is very difficult for me, if I don't have tools even for something simple like a square or triangle, it's simply not going to happen. I seriously failed middle school art because of my artistic skills. Probably the only person in the history of my school who honestly tried to at least pass and still failed in art. I learned some years later though, that he failed me because of one particular drawing I made with stick people, when I had to describe to him what I had drawn. He thought I was fooling around, and thought I only drew that bad because I was in some way making fun of him or his class. Anyway though, I just don't visualize things, nor do I seem able to learn though visualizing. Give me a lecture over a field trip or hands on work any day. "Get in the car." I don't see the car, nor do I see myself getting into the car. If I were to be sitting at home on my computer and I had to "Get in the car,” this is what goes through my mind:

1) Click all programs/files on taskbar from left to right.

2) Close all programs/files on taskbar from right to left.

3) Slide chair back.

4) Stand.

5) 6 steps to position behind chair.

6) Push chair in with left hand.

7) 18 steps to bedroom door.

8) Open door.

9) 4 steps to dresser.

10) Wallet to back left pocket, crease on wallet facing out.

11) Pick-up and count cigarettes in pack to determine if a new pack will be needed before I approximate time I would return.

12) Pack to front right pocket front of box facing out.

13) Lighter to little lighter pocket above front right pocket.

14) Keys hooked on first belt loop to the left of zipper, and put into pocket.

15) 7 steps to turn around walk to door and close.

16) 6 steps to front door.

17) 45-49 steps to car door.

 

Believe it or not this is the abbreviated version of what really goes on. Each line of this list has a list of it's own. There are no visualizations that go through my mind with something like that. I don't handle sporadic events very well, and they make me very nervous. If I am in the middle of a process when something comes up, I tend to have a short temper. I am a dream customer for any fast food worker though, once I've decided what I like at a particular place I always get the same meal, so there's no staring at a menu that's never changed in the 20 years it's been there. I also, knowing how much my meal will be, have my money waiting for them to take, even before they're ready to take it. I'm not obsessive in my behavior, I don't HAVE to do things a certain way, I do sporadic things at times. However, I do prefer regularity. Lunches are always the same, I go to George's (a pizzeria), and get a personal pan, beef pizza with extra cheese and light sauce, iced tea to drink. I smoke 2 cigarettes before my meal comes to me, and 2 after I'm done. Suppers though, are more random, but if I go somewhere I always get the same thing. If I eat at home, I already have a list of meals I can make based on what I have in the kitchen, so I can choose from that.

 

From what I have observed in other people though, I don't seem to be delayed in any of the things I do, and usually I'm faster, more efficient, and forget fewer things along the way. There are a few things that seem to take longer or are harder for me to do. While I soak any and all information given me better than a sponge, I can't grasp names. With my best friend of a year, it took me almost 6 months to be able to remember her daughter's name on command. I can remember best friends I had 4 and 5 years ago, but only those two or three people, none of the other people I was just friends with at that time. If I go back longer than around 5 years, I remember nothing of people's names, but I can remember specifics over conversations we'd had. I can however, remember how many rotations of the pedals on my bikes from my house to every school I ever went to. I make friends really well, but I don't retain them very well. When we have a disagreement over the way something happened, I will bring up certain things someone said, then you hear that ever-popular "when? I never said that." But I can give them dates and I can give them the time they said it and be correct within only a couple of minutes, as well as EXACTLY what they said and how they said it. It turns out when you do things like that to often, people for the most part don't like it.

 

Generally throughout the day, no images, such as shapes and colors, are going through my head, just processes. The only exceptions being 1) while I'm sleeping, and 2) when I am reading a book.

 

Looking back on this, I'm beginning to think I'm crazy.

[reverse]

I'm impressed.

 

what about complicated processes ...like, how long a string of logic can you hold?

[Evangelante]

I myself for example can easily visualize complicated shapes and rotate split combine etc…and then draw and build what I visualise.

 

I've got that gift too. Not a lot of people have it.

 

It's said that people who are into spelling bees and such can visualize words before they spell them out.

 

I usually don't think about spelling words anymore or stuff like that. Of course I haven't done a spelling bee in some times. I still do think of words once in a while and have visualizations. Sometimes it's like a flash of white text on black.

 

I use to be a lot more intelligent, but I snapped mentally and went on a downward spiral. Of course I find that visualizing things helps a person learn a lot faster. When I read a book, i imagine things such as building a computer or other technical features of something. If you were to follow me around, you'd see me touching everything and anything I come into contact. I remember the feel of things and so forth by thinking about them.

 

It's almost always white on black. Like DoS.

 

If I'm going to go crazy I think like Action Man and plan all of it in my head. I think of explosions, speed, shrapnel, distance. My mind just does the equation work for me even though I don't know the equations or math work to do it. It's like seeing into the future kinda.

 

I think I only use my memory processes when it's pitch black in my house. I create a virtual world in my mind of the house and I walk around.

 

My favorite use of my mind would be in recreating the image of someone's face and body from just seeing part of it. Becomes a problem when I don't have my glasses on though.

 

I have that problem with holding dimensional objects in my mind also, but I've learned to overcome that. It seems there's like a subsection that I can place that object in and control it form there. And then i place the objects back and forth between areas.

 

Practice makes perfect. A lot of people are considered crazy when they start talking about this stuff, but I encourage people taking time out to train their brain to do this kind of thing.

[reverse]

That’s quite funny.

 

Friends have pointed out how each time I go into a new location I visually scan each end every shape and form in the room.

 

Of course if you have been doing it all your life, you don’t usually come across any new objects, so it’s over in the blink of an eye.

 

As for this touching habit of yours…remind me never to take you into a biker bar.

They don’t like that.

 

Lol.

[Evangelante]

I think one of the better things I will do is while I'm in college and bored, I'll watch a movie or play a game in my head.

[SorceressPol]

My brain is a pain in my ass. I remember everything about nothing. I can describe what everyone in my family has eaten when we went to restaurants since I was three. My mind is very visual. It comes in handy when I do something new. I picture it in my mind, including what can go wrong, or what would make whatever I'm doing easier. The only exception are map directions. My brain just won't cooperate. I can only visualize about two turns, and anything after that is a blur. One time I shocked myself. I was practicing kickboxing and all of a sudden my body when into these incredibly fluid and graceful stances. I kept trying to figure out where I had seen this before, and I remembered that I had seen this move on Tekken when I played one game with my friend four friggin years ago. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't repeat it. I can focus on something for a long time without getting bored, and other times I just can't seem to keep my mind on one thing. I'm better at listening to a person if I'm doing two or three tasks, but if I just look at them, it goes in one ear and out the other. It drives my mom crazy, but everytime she accuses me of not listening, I repeat what she said verbatim for the past twenty minutes, and throw in every motion she made while saying it.

[reverse]

Those are top skills for managing people.

The little personal details you are remembering,

they are key in the area of personnel management.