Question for NTs about how you think

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Er, I think you're using some kind of personal shorthand here. What is the full formulation of your testable prediction?

Fraac, How are you? Hows the weather by the way? Its been cold, but clear and sunny here.

See above, when you got one single view, your first NT, immediately your next question generalised to all NTs. Could we not be systematic and methodical? This is a really interesting question.

This thread could just be interesting chat chat chat, all for the sake of it, so fair enough. But you do say you actually want to get to the bottom of it, so you needs dozens of NTs and dozens of autistic types even to start with.

Someone on this thread suggested you need to get more NTs and you said you weren't gonna go outside WP, as even stating the question will blow NTs mind. Maybe its a mind f**k to you, but many NTs would find it fascinating. The question alone isn't a major mind f**k, not at all!

How are you quantifying all this qualitative stuff? I replied that I had a constant inner voice, but please don't assume constant narration, or that its purely verbal as it part visual, its different for present and for memories etc. You need a questionnaire that records this properly if you want to see if there are any general truths.

This is weird. Today I'm noticing I don't have any chatter going in my head. It's actually quiet. But I feel sort of sleepy and out of it. And the other day, I would have sworn I have constant chatter going on at all times...maybe just because that's what I was experiencing in the moment? Today I am finding it difficult to verbalize some things.

I've got a strong hunch that the way all folks 'think' varies a bit, as in pictures, semi imagery, verbal, etc. But, the *difference* lies in an interest in knowing or guessing what is at the other end -- the other mind. There isn't an ascribing of intention.

If there is an ascribing of intention, it is intellectually cultivated because of necessity,( in some way shape or form) and this different fundamental mechanism is subconscious.

I think you can split the two from here.

First, I love this topic so far, but I have a quick observation:

I've always found the, "Do you "think" in words or pictures?" to be entirely too simplistic. The process of "thinking (for me, anyway)" involves not just how I consciously regard the world in everyday life, but how I recall information, how I remember information, how I classify information, how my thoughts are organized, ect.

Depending on what mental activity I'm currently engaged in, I utilize words, still pictures, moving video, or "concepts." It also depends heavily on the problem I'm attempting to solve. About the only thing I don't have is "verbal memory" for what OTHER people say. Beyond that. if anything, I have entirely too many avenues at my disposal, which would superficially appear to be a strength at first glance, but it usually means that my brain can't make up its mind as to which is the "best" way to achieve its objective. It's why I take so friggen' long to make a decision or respond to stimuli that the majority of people can react to intuitively. And, no, I highly doubt my "scrambled brain/unable-to-decide-on-a-thought-process" method of cogitation is the "way everybody thinks."

Anyway, my thought-process is dictated most strongly by the fact I'm an "associative-thinker." Whether my actual "thoughts" come in words or pictures is of secondary importance.

Do you mean the Richard Wiseman gorilla basketball thing? I met him once and he played that video. I didn't see the Gorilla and it still throws me to this day. I didn't know it was an autism/NT thing. I've used it on friends lots of time. The folk I know, that see the gorilla, are contrary NTs.

Is the internal narrative voice nearly universal amongst NTs? Is it less nearly universal amongst autistics? Do we have no flapping clue about these questions? I have no flapping clue about anything.

To what degree is the voice present and does it flip from verbal to visual or physical or narration for NT/for autistics?

I'm NT, mine is verbal a lot of the time. Its present in the moment a lot of the time. But its not often narration. The main voice is what I think of as my consciousness. It speaks English mostly, but sometimes it then gets fuzzy and language isn't needed. It can be visual or simply dreamy-wavy. All sorts of things are being understood and processed without words.

The main inner voice is behind my eyes and it argues with my body voice which is more emotional. So there can often be two voices in dialogue, but the body voice is not so verbal. Its more intuitive, often helpful, but on analysis, often wrong too.

My thinking is much more visual when the inner voice is thinking about the past. I tend to remember what happened/ when/where/who said what very well, and that tends to be videos without narration, but they can have long verbal parts. I remember a lot of what people say and when I get to the speech parts of the video memory I hear their words spoken verbally, exactly as they said them, in their voices. Much of the video is out of focus, much is felt in chemicals in the body.

My internal voice never shuts up unless I'm talking (even then my body voice keeps talking). It is there when others are talking, even if I am giving them my full attention.

If I'm sleeping its video stories but sometimes numbers and equations, but I never understand them.

I can listen to other people at the same time as my inner voice but I can not listen to my own inner voice and talk at the same time. The inner voice merges behind my eyes with my speaking.

Typing merges with my inner voice.

My inner voice may be narration of what I am seeing but more often it is miles away from what I am looking at. I argue with myself to try and make sense of the day, of conversations, actions, work, emotions. My inner voice makes me more rational in my actions, and helps me work stuff out.

I dont know if there is a difference between my fast thinking inner voice which I associate with the intuitive non-analytical thoughts like snap judgements - that might be my non-verbal body voice.

Or the slower thinking more analytical more reasoned considerations that come along with my verbal voice.

I have a feeling that everyone would claim this of themselves, with minor variation. Yet this odd result keeps appearing that there's some difference between autistic and NT. Perhaps it's the wrong question. Should be asking instead about non-thinking styles.

This must be connected: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/43418.php

I'm going to the shops for some Irn Bru then I'll come back and try to work it out.

There is a ton of selection bias by asking on this forum.

Seconded.

I can say one thing, but think of something completely different. However, sometimes I find it hard to listen to people because I'd rather listen to my inner voice.

I don't see how. If you mean the 'neurotypicals' will often be undiagnosed autistic relations, well maybe, but I can filter any bias. I'm clever like that.

The majority of NTs would have nothing to do with the forum. If they are on this forum they must have some sort of relationship with Autism, and they must use online forums.

Oh, bull excrement.

This. This a thousand million times, this.

Trouble is, a nonautistic not on an autism forum (or maybe a philosophy forum?) would likely be disturbed by this subject and unwilling to introspect. They're like cows, they spook easily and have four stomachs.