... Visual Thinking ...

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I consider myself a visual thinker, and I know many autistics and asperger types are visual thinkers. I am wondering, however, to what truly constitutes a thinker as visual? Technically, as I analyze my own thought patterns, I consider myself to think visually in some occasions and not in others.

I read somewhere on the Internet about "what do you see when you see a church steeple?" Apparently, a visual thinker will see an actual steeple. A non-visual thinker is supposed to see a stick figure. For me, it goes something like this. I see a white, triangular tower with two sticks creating a cross on top of it, which is the church steeple near home. That's what enters my mind the fastest.

There is something related to a therapeutic aspect of psychoanalysis that relies on spitting forth the first thing that comes to your mind after a word is said. Like, what do you immediately think of when one says "steeple" for example? Well, if the room was quiet and without any noise around, I'd have to think of an association. I can imagine myself in this sort of situation. Bizarrely enough, the first thing that came to my mind after the word steeple was deeple, which makes no sense, but it rhymes. I have written a lot of poetry, so that's probably why I have like a knack for rhyming words. This isn't always true, however. I thought of another word, "dog." The first thing that came to my mind wasn't my own dog, but a dumb word: "like."

Here's the more perplexing thing. On an autistic quotient test, one of the questions was something like: "Can you describe an event by picturing it in your mind?" Apparently, most autistics aren't supposed to be able to do this, but yet they are visual thinkers? Kind of strange too me, but I can easily describe events in my mind. I can picture an entire scenic view in my mind, placing the trees in certain positions and so forth. Though I hate fiction in terms of reading, I have written fictional stories, and I have an above-average knack for mapping out constructs in my mind with effective visual and chronological detail.

Also, on the autistic quotient test, another question was something like: "Do you remember license plates with ease?" This is different, because I generally don't remember license plates, telephone numbers, etc. unless I truly put my mind to it, having heard it over and over again. My short-term memory is extremely poor, so that's probably why. Yet, when I once took some sort of intelligence quiz, I could remember lengthy strings of numbers forward, almost up to 20. I also listened to a set of about fourteen or fifteen numbers and recited them backwards. This sort of perplexed the person giving the test.

Any thoughts on this?

- Ray M -

My first thought is which one cause there not all the same and run through pictures of ones I've seen I also see not only the steeple but the structure within and how its built


I'd get chase



I realy dont understand that either I kinda cut and paste from different secnes I've seen though instead of purely made up ones I can put stuff were ever I want





I like license plate and keep a record of states I've seen as for remembering the numbers and such only the weird ones stand out and I am dyslexic and have a hard time with number and letter strings

Most people show some degree of visual and some degree of verbal thinking (and kinesthetic and emotional). My visualization skills are particularly weak, but I can still visualize somewhat. Apparently, when NTs read poetry and fiction, they develop an actual image in their mind of what the characters and scenery look like. They see the visual metaphors. This includes people whose predominant thinking style is verbal or otherwise nonvisual.

I see a photograph-like picture of the steeple of the church I went to as a kid and where I attended elementary school (it was a Catholic school). It is a tall black elongated triangular shape with a shiny golden cross against a sky blue background.

I'm not sure, but this question probably counts towards having a higher AQ. I don't have the scoresheet on hand to check, though.

Many people with Asperger's syndrome have poor visualization skills, but this isn't necessarily true for everyone. Simon Baron-Cohen and other researchers report that people with Asperger's syndrome as well as other forms of autism are more likely to be visual thinkers, though.

Now, that's quite interesting. It's something I never really thought about. Like, I can easily envision scenery and so forth, but when I read about it, I struggle to envision it. But I believe that's because I'm reading words and trying to see in my mind at the same time. I had horrible comprehension through school, and it only got slightly better. I hate fiction. I don't even find it interesting. I sort of had interests in writing fictional stories through school based on school characters in a variety of situations, with a lot of technical jargon around it (think mystery / CSI kind of stuff). I also tend to write as sort of emotional release, to clear my head of thoughts and so forth.



I've read conflicting reports on how visual Asperger's syndrome types are. I'm going more by a book I had received a while back called "The Parent's Guide to Children with Asperger's Syndrome." In that book, they stated that evidence has tended to support that many people with Asperger's are visual thinkers. If you're a visual thinker, then how can you have poor visualization skills? That doesn't make too much sense, at least to me, unless they're talking about reading something and then visualizing it. It's sort of objective, and maybe the authors should make themselves more clear. But I'm not in any place to stipulate anything like that. That's part of why I tend not to like IQ tests and the such.

- Ray M -

Being able to visualize doesn't make a person a visual thinker. I'm a verbal thinker primarily; I think in words I hear in my head. My train of thought is an internal dialogue of me thinking of what I'm going to say, do, and so forth. I can visualize to some extent, but it's much poorer than most people's visualization ability. My verbal IQ is 134, and my performance (nonverbal or visuospatial) IQ was only 94.

Your test to determine who is a visual thinker is sort of inaccurate, I think. Most people can visualize steeples that are more realistic than a couple of lines except for people with very severe nonverbal learning disabilities. Visual thinkers think predominantly in pictures instead of words.

Im not sure if it counts, but I tend to think in pictures. Not like imagining things, but accually think in like a photoalbum kinda thing. I can literally get so into a thought that I am not "present" with whats going on around me. I can, but usually dont, let my self get that focused on something. It scared me when I first started driving, I got so "into" what I was thinkking that I didnt remember the trip home from school (30minutes).

Same here. I think in pictures to the extent that if I can't "see" something in my mind, then I can't understand it. And vice-versa. I usually don't need to read the text in instructions manuals; for me it's enough to see the images to figure out how things work.

NeantHumain, where did you read/hear this? I am curious because I am both an NT and a decidedly verbal thinker. Usually, I can't clearly picture objects that are not in front of me unless I describe them to myself aloud.

*split infinitive* *cringe*

I got that from a psychologist's site from the Internet a week or so ago, though I forget what site it was at this time. In the site, however, and this was from a doctor specializing in this sort of thing, there was the mention of autistic types visualizing actual steeples when they think of a steeple, as compared to NTs who apparently are supposed to think of a stick figure. I know how I think, and I can't answer for something like this, personally. I don't know how others think. But, I assume, that some sort of statistical evidence must have been used to come up with this conclusion.

- Ray M -

I guess it may be similar, but I sort of tend to think of how I think not as a photo album, per se (though I've heard this elsewhere), but rather as a photographic display. It's not like I flip through pages of some psychic album, but rather I walk around inside of my mind through an occasion. I can envision a house right now, with ten or fifteen rooms, and I can visually place things inside each room. I can mentally walk through it, room to room. I can then write an elongated report detailing what I've created. Apparently, from when I was in school, this is supposed to be an above-average way to think. It's probably also the sort of mindset that most writers tend to have. I consider myself an above-average writer, though I've never pursued it as a profession.

- Ray M -

Not sure if this is the same thing but I am unable to see any type of images/picture in my mind,if I close my eyes,I'm unable to render what i've just seen-where i'm sitting etc.