Verbal vs. Visual

Post Reply New Topic

Ok, so the poll is just for fun. I assume that the population of this forum would be primarily verbal, which would probably not reflect the real statistics.

What I'm really interested in, though, is the level of communication difficulty versus the primary thought process. My questions are as follows:

If you are primarily visual, is expressing yourself in words a challenge for you?
Do you tend to give short replies to everything?
Do you find it difficult to explain your thoughts, even if you might be thinking a lot of things at the moment?

If you are primarily verbal, do you enjoy expressing yourself through spoken word?
Through written word?
Do you constantly feel the need to engage with some form of language?
Is music an essential part of your life?

As a side note, even though Temple Grandin is a visual thinker, it amazes me how well she can speak in front of an audience.

i identify with both types.

i'm best at expressing myself in words, but written, not spoken.
I'm not good with speaking really.

& i tend to give short replies to everything because i find it difficult to explain my thoughts even though i'm usually thinking alot of things.

so which would i put on the poll?
i think there should be a third option

No. I have a bit of difficulty speaking to people - I get "stuck" easily in conversations and my spoken delivery goes in fits and starts.

More than speaking, certainly. Despite not being a good speaker, I often write things down as if I was speaking them, contractions colloquialisms and pauses and all. And I love smileys.

Yes. I find words and etymology interesting and I like to mess about with grammar. I read fewer books than I used to because of computer addiction, but still a lot.

Yes. I sing a lot, especially when there's noone around to hear.

I read an article the other day (I forget where) saying that people who've suffered language problems after a stroke or other brain damage can learn to use song to compensate, as the singing and speaking areas of the brain are different. Something along those lines. It made me wonder.

Wow 50% - 50%, didn't expect that one.

I am visual and verbal

However, I make sense of the world
through the visual. Poetry, metaphor
and image are my 'concrete'

I am very animal, I smell, touch,
hypo-alert and feel as much through
my body as with my mind.

I take things more metaphor-ically
than literally.

+100

I am primarily a visual thinker. I think it images, even if those images are, in fact, words. I excel with spelling because I can easily visualize a particular word, even if I have only seen it once or a few times. I find it easier to express myself in writing because I usually have time to verbalize my thoughts and organize them coherently. However, when speaking to people I am an utter mess because, in person, people expect an immediate response, so there is little time for me to organize my thoughts. It is a condition known as aphasia, which need not imply brain damage. Aphasia is a general condition in which individuals know how to write and type more carefully and logically than they can speak. Speaking is a great challenge for aphasics, unless what is to be said has been much rehearsed.

I think many of us could speak to a crowd if it was about our area of interest. The biggest problem is getting started.

Huh?

I can't draw from memory, but my English teachers praised my writings ...
I feel I can rouse emotion by the sheer force of the written word, but am unable to make diagrams.
On a side note, when I learn biology I need pictures. Words alone don't make sense. So it's really a grey area.

"Yes, I agree completely." The usual usage would be: Alice says something, Bob writes "+1" as shorthand for "I agree", Charlie writes "+2" for "I also agree" and so on; "+100" is taking it to an extreme.

I'm quite surprised at the near 50-50 split myself, from previous threads on this subject I'd expected it to be more heavily skewed in favour of visual thinkers (unless you were being sarcastic in which case seriously, it is a surprising result!)

My written words are only a pale expression of the fullness of the images in my mind. I can't draw either because of poor motor skills and lack of memory. My computer gives me the ability to make great blueprints and schematics.

Last edited by Mudboy on 22 Jun 2010, 8:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

Visual

often
often
yes

O, and Temple is often lecturing people on something. That's talking at people and lecturing on a topic of interest.

Last edited by Danielismyname on 22 Jun 2010, 8:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

I can draw some things well from memory (maps in particular), but can't picture them.
Curiously, I occasionally start to picture things (not well, but not zero like it normally is) just before I fall asleep. I've been trying to analyse exactly when and how I ever see mental pictures since seeing a thread on the same thing a while back. It's a fascinating subject, to realise how differently people work!

i would have to align myself with the verbal choice, as i can speak about as well as bill gates when he is drunk off his ass [imagine it], so my primary mode of lucid communication is via the written word. when i am laboring through a thought process, i have to speak it aloud in order for it to coalesce into anything resembling a logical chain. my visual imagination is mediocre at best. i enjoy talking F2F with people if only they would deign to be on my wavelength, which is a relatively rare occurence. i am not ashamed of my odd prosody of my speech which alternates absurdly singsong melody with monotonic uniformity in odd meter. i like being able to express myself creatively. i feel better, more "human" when i am able to do this. i have email penpals including those who speak entirely different languages- we share our thoughts via pidgin english/pidgin whatever their language happens to be, and this enlarges both our worlds, i believe. and music is a humongous part of my life, in terms of the passive enjoyment of it, as i have totally no musical talent other than perfect pitch. IMHO, music is a type of language in itself, which best expresses feelings which can be only clumsily expressed in words.