Thinking by words.

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Okay, question how do you 'think'? How do you... its hard to explain. Using me as a example i 'think' by words. I word my thoughts, i will do so that i end up with a disscusion within my head. Others think by picture. and there may be others.


But the question i am interested in, is how would a person who has not learned a language think? would they be a picture thinker?

I was just thinking on, how would i be able to think with out words? My though process requires words, in English, for no apparant reason. So, how do you 'think' and would a worded thinker be able to 'think' in the sense i am speaking.


Okay, this is awkard, i am not explaining this right but some of you may understand me here.

We all used to think in something other than words when we were very, very young, way under a year of age.

The problem is one we learn a language we cannot remember what it was like before we learned a language.

Here is an experiment. Look at a text in a foreign language much different from you own, say Chinese or Korean. Then learn to read the language and look again. It is impossible to look a language you learned with unlearned eyes.

ruveyn

In your post you said "I word my thoughts" What were those thoughts before you worded them?

I think in words mostly.

You cant describe thought without words. Because- to describe it - would-TAKE WORDS. Its a contradiction to even attempt it.

There was a story on the radio about a group of children in some kind of orphanage in South America or someplace who had grown up with out language. When they were found by the world they quickly learned language. The woman author would interview each one of the now adult survivors of this thing to find out "what it was like in the years before you had language". Uniformly they each said "I dont know- ive forgotten-once I got language it all vanished from my mind."

On the other hand - a guy I talked to a party in college once told me of his growing up in a multilingual family where everyone spoke English, French, Russian, and Ukrainian. He said he woud often stop his train of thought to see "what language am I 'thinking in'". And said its "NO language, its just thinking."

I think I understand what they were trying to say. I think in words - but sometimes I think in pictures. Especially when I get upset or really "listen" what the speaker is saying starts playing in my mind like a movie. Hate that though because that is when people say I look bored and uninterested. Funny thing is though that is NOT right! I get so wrapped up in watching this mind movie and enjoying the listening I forget to remember to paste the appropriate facial expression on my face. Sorry side tracked...

When I am upset I no longer think in words and I get selective mutism and can not talk out loud or explain the pictures I see. It is very frustrating. For instance when I think of a dog - I see a specific dog that represents my current situation/mood.. not some random generic dog. A house is always an image of a house I have seen and felt something about in my lifetime. The pictures that make up my picture thinking have emotions and feelings attached and even meanings. So an image just isn't a "dog" it has way deeper meaning and especially whatever other images come to mind. It gets hard to communicate sometimes.

We who think in words think in more than just words. Steven Pinker has pointed this out: you are writing something and when you look at the thing you write you know you have not said quite what you meant. If your thoughts were words, then anything you write is what you thought. But if perchance you have decided you have "mis-written" then what was the underlying thought? It wasn't words, so what was it?

ruveyn

Language is one of the huge factors that sets us apart from other animals. We have a very complex system of language which is what allows us to think often much faster and much more complexly than other animals. Everyone thinks primarily in words, and if you try to think without words you will find it's very difficult. A recent scientific study showed that our voice box vibrates slightly as we think. Although yes pictures, emotions, and feelings are present in our thoughts they are more accessories and supplements.

I heard the thought/picture thing as different rungs on the ladder of thought.
An idea will come from outside the mind's focus as a scene or a mini dream.
It then crystallizes as a form or tangible idea.
From that it may be drawn as a picture or described in words.

I hadn't heard this before but I think it is a profound realization. I find many of Steven Pinker's insights into language and the mind to be fascinating.

Personally I only think in words if I am trying to formulate language, or read it and I can almost never visualize my thoughts. 90% of the time I am thinking purely in abstract concepts, without seeing or hearing my thoughts. I think this is probably the "underlying thought" of which Steven Pinker speaks, only with me it is not so "underlying". I blame this for my terrible difficulty translating my thoughts into words...

Ask yourself: Where did the words come from? There must be an unconscious process that precedes the words.

We are not aware of neurons producing an ionic inversion down their axons or the chemical processes that take place at our synapses. Most of what goes on in our heads does not register in our consciousness, but it constitutes the stuff of our consciousness.

ruveyn

ruveyn