So if AS people think in pictures, how do NT people think?

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Haha! Fair comment DW. I don't actually remember who the auties and the enties are around here... I think I'm actually more interested in things that support my own views than anything else, as so many of us are. Duly noted.

Yeah, I'd have done the same as you, which is why I'm no good at word association games

If somebody says a word that can have an image attached to it (like "necklace") I don't think of either the word itself or of one specific example. Instead I think of a bunch of different examples that layer on top of each other. If you say "necklace" (and you just did, so that's what's in my head) I think of the necklace I wore most recently, some necklaces I've recently seen other women wear, a couple necklaces I tried on in a store, a necklace from a magazine ad. All of these images appear layered and blur together in what is sort of a Platonic ideal of "necklace". If you say "dog", I layer together a bunch of different dogs I'm familiar with- dogs I know personally and dogs I've seen around but don't know and dogs from movies and dogs from photos. They are all there at the same time, something like an image cloud.

And also I have constant narration like DW A Mom. The constant narration thing must be pretty common since the Buddhists have labeled it ("chattering monkey mind") and prescribe meditation to keep it in check.

I am not sure what goes on in the head of other people, so I don't know how they think. I think in both words and images and in questions.

I have the monkey mind in spades, talk and images.

This occurred to me whilst reading this post and contemplating forms of thought. BTW, Thank you, DW and other NTs!

I remember well; when I was 10, I had an eye appointment/exam. My eye doctor said when he looked into my eyes he KNEW what I was thinking! To me, this was profound. I 100% believed him and it would never have occurred to me to question what he instructed. I was positively floored.

Then, I was to look at those 3D insects - I was terrified that he knew what I saw!! ! I thought those 3D insects were real and I kept touching the surface, trying so hard to feel those mysterious insects - fascinated.

I never forget that he said he knows what I'm thinking by looking into my eyes. Never. Still, I think about this eye exam since it may have changed what I knew about others (and maybe had suspected) - they KNOW. NTs are mind readers, it's not our imagination. In all candor, I think this is why NTs look into each others eyes. They somehow contain messges that elude me; it's what they are thinking.

I must be half NT then in some way as I can relate to both. I mean, I do tend to focus on odd things that NT's may not notice or pay attention to, but at the same time images, especially things in nature, can evoke strong emotions in me. It's not really about me personally though so much as how my mind synthesizes the things I experience through my senses into a coherent "mood" that leaves a lasting impression on me. For instance, walking through a dark forest might not literally make me feel gloomy, even though my mind percieves an overall impression of gloominess about my surroundings.

It's the same way with the weather. It can have a strong emotional impression on me, yet I don't really know how to describe exactly what it is I'm feeling. It's a combination of the way the sky looks, the angle of the light, and the way the air feels and smells. Yet when all these things come together the sum of it all is more than the individial parts. There's something there that goes beyond what I can describe just using concrete words and literal descriptions.

That's a good point, and I probably did not clarify well - - I feel too and can become...deeply moved (right word?) by beauty found in raindrops that reflect colours, reflective metals, how the river smells salty, and even certain mathematical concepts - I can have tears in my eyes from how much I see/hear/feel. And, I seemingly have no control over these feelings/sensations...but that's another story.

The difference is that I do not reason based upon emotion. For a hypothetical example: If I were a supervisor, I would not be able to think about promoting an employee based upon the fact that I liked him/her. Or, in another instance, it would never occur to me to exclude somebody because my so-called 'friend' did not like him/her. I reason/think based upon what is known. Separate functions.

I know I think in concepts/pictures, etc. but I suspect others might overlap their complex emotions with what they think. I am not sure if they can extricate their emotions from the content of thought.

Like what deadeyexx astutely wrote. An Aspie might come to the same conclusion as his/her NT peer: Gloomy. But the route of thought qualitatively differs.

I would think this kind of thing is common for all children, both NT and AS alike. It's common for children to have that sort of magical thinking.

Yeah....you know, it has occurred to me that I might be psychotic since I still cannot fully justify what he said. I wish I could label that as magical thinking, but it has truth too. Then I starkly remember that I am autistic. Sigh.

Yes, *sighs*.

"I know what you're thinking" is just a figure of speech. It just means, "based on what you are doing and based on how a lot of people react to this situation, I can make a guess as to what you are thinking". I say it all the time to my husband. It doesn't mean I can read his mind. I can just make a guess as to how a situation looks to him.

It is probably very, very common for children to try to touch the 3D image of the insects and all he meant by saying "I know what you're thinking" is "lots of kids think they can touch those 3D images". My daughter had that exact same exam and the 3D bug test is still in use. She actually did not try to touch it and the doctor was somewhat concerned because an attempt to touch it is the most common reaction. He feared she did not see it in 3D. Luckily he had lots of other 3D images and she did attempt to touch those. UIt turns out she just didn't want to touch a very realistic looking bug.

He "knew" what you were thinking in the sense that he knew the bug looked 3D to you and therefore you would want to touch it as children often do.

I am NT and I think in words. Thoughts in my head are actually like a narration of my own voice.

I think that the NTs of today think in texed message form, with profanity added.

What I was trying to say was that emotion plays a role in synthesizing things I experience through my senses. Looking at a work of art, it's the emotional impression it evokes that ties all the physical elements together. Therefore studying a work of art is akin to thinking with emotions.


The reasons for "liking" someone can seem nebulous and incomprehensible. On the other hand, when I dislike someone the emotion is usually pretty obvious and hard to ignore.

What if you were the supervisor and you learned that one of the employees under you was saying very negative and hurtful things about you to the other employees behind your back? If this person happened to be the most qualified person for promotion based on ability to perform the job, would you still be able to promote this individual? Even if you still promoted this person would you not feel at all hesitant or resentful about it?


I'm having trouble understanding this. I don't see aspie thought as being uninfluenced by emotion. Just browsing the PPR forum or "The Haven" I see a lot of emotional thinking going on.

It seems like the only real difference has to do with what we get emotional over. We don't become emotional over the same things that NT's typically become emotional over, and therefore their lines of thought and actions seem mysterious and irrational. But it goes the other way as well. To an uninformed NT, an autistic meltdown seems like a bizarre and irrational reaction to a situation. Our behavior isn't "valid" from their perspective so they can easily slap the "irrational" label on it.

I have all human emotions, which are also compounded by my sensory hypersensitivity. Not fun. It's a myth to imagine autistic people are somehow devoid or emotionless...anything but.