Thinking in Pictures as Opposed to God Knows What Other Way

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I just watched a TED Talks Temple Grandin video and she mentioned thinking in images, and I am very confused actually.
What other way of thinking is there? I think in stills, going to the grocery store is seeing a pic of the oranges right by the entrance for example and part of the floor, going to sleep, I see my bed in darkness and so on. Am I misunderstanding something? How else can people think?
I also think in thoughts I guess, that's when I am trying to "think hard" in order to make an important decision, then I force myself to verbalize my thoughts inside my head and I see pics accompanying each sentence and the process is relatively slow in comparison to normal image thinking and it becomes easier if I talk out lout to myself and take notes.
I also think in what I call thought packages, I don't think in sentences, I don't see anything, I just feel this thing, it's like a UPS delivery of an impression, it is very hard to explain, it is just feelings that feel right, and I feel them inside my body, and due to having synesthesia, I feel a motion in my body and I see a colour, and I hear a sound, and I understand what it means instantly rather than rationalizing in phrases and pictures etc
I do see synesthetic impressions of thoughts also, just "paintings" of patterns instead of any other form of thought. I thought everyone did this? Is it uncommon?
So basically, am I misunderstanding the whole thinking in images thing that she was talking about or how do other people think? Do they think in words? Do they hear the words as thoughts? Do they see nothing in their minds? If so, how can they remember everything they thought of? It must be exhausting to think in long paragraphs and to have to remember everything in order to come to a conclusion.
Also if I am talking and I stop and concentrate on actually talking, it is as if I am reading phrases when I talk. Do other people read "mental transcripts" when they talk? I don't mean that every time I am talking I have to look inside my mind's eye and read, but if I am consciously concentrating on talking, I see a typed page and I read it out loud.
Thanx in advance for any responses! (for example now I saw a desk and a type writer and a hand and a cup and a pencil holder and the colour orange when I thought of the phrase "thanx in advance for any responses!")

I have a very visual memory. I love looking at maps and once I have driven,walked, biked, ran someplace I can always find my way back to it. I don't have a photographic memory or anything but I do remember best by visualization. I have a problem with forgetting names, so when I try to remember I usually see the letters in my mind and the name kind of appears aftersome thought. If someone asks me where something is in the city I can close my eyes and visualize nearly the entire layout and all the stuff that I've seen and then tell them where it is. Hope that helps. I can't watch the video while at work, but I'll check it out when I can.

I was wondering the same thing. I thought everyone thought in pictures and images?

I'm with you on this, I don't know how people could think in anything but images.
The images in my head are more than just 2D snapshots though. I usually imagine whole 3D scenes that I can move around in. If I think of an object, say a toaster. I can rotate all around it and take it apart in my head. If I think of a math problem I see geometry and various graphs. Even if I think of sound I'll get some sort of a voiceprint-like representation of that sound.

This is a fascinating question, and you explained your thought process magnificently. Wow.

When I'm solving problems, or actively in the midst of things, I definitely think in pictures/visually too.

I would love to hear the NT perspective on how they personally form and experience thoughts.

My worst problem with this is when people talk. Every word people say has a picture attached to it. This is very bad when people say curse words or tell dirty jokes.

This is also why many times I zone out in the middle of a conversation all the images flying through my head can be very distracting.

I've never undersood what other way there is to think. I thought everyone thought in pictures.

Same here. that's the way that I can navagate around the city. I too can visualize and rotate in three dimensions. My highest IQ aptitude is always visual/spacial.

I have heard people describe their inner thoughts as being words. I have also heard it described as being pictures.

I can really only describe my own with any degree of accuracy though.

I think in thought. It is not words, it is not pictures, it is understanding. If it is practical, I can call up images, real or imaginative, or even video, I can speak aloud in my head, or replay audio I've heard..I can feel the sensation I've felt or imagine ones I haven't, basically, I "can" think with the senses...but that is not default. I think in understanding, in knowing. I think in something deep and maybe a bit mysterious in its elusiveness to describe.

One of the problems I've always felt, is this massive difference between my ability to take in information vs my ability to send out information. I am constantly translating my thoughts into language so as to speak, it's not very efficient. Not on transmitting side of the equation, at least.

I'm NT and the way others have put it here is just how I think, mostly with images but also I will talk in my head when I need to think something out, or plan or understand something in the human world such as a perspective or point of view. And the more I need to make that concrete the more real the conversation is. I will often hold mock conversations internally prior to having them, imagine what I will say and how I will say it, and importantly try and gauge how they will be received and interpreted by the other party. Sounds a bit odd, but it works for me.

In the physical world then its purely imagery e.g. I might be repairing something and I imagine the pieces in my mind and can make them move and rotate and so-on.

What I think Temple Grandin has discussed though is very very precise and inflexible images. E.g. if she tries to imagine a Church Steeple, she can only see images of the steeples she has seen in her life like a catalogue and has a a very photographic recollection of them. That is unusual.

Last edited by nostromo on 20 Mar 2012, 4:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

I think visually for some things, verbally for other things, and then I also do math by "feel," if that makes any sense.

I think I know what you mean, I also sort of assign feelings to concepts like numbers. This is more difficult to do when I'm tired.

No, I'm pretty sure that is NOT what she meant. First, are you sure you are entirely NT? Second, yes she mentioned that her memory is very photographic and she has some issues with gestalt and abstraction and such, but judging from the way NTs react to her works thinking mainly in pictures is not common.

This subject of how one thinks was somewhat done to death recently, but in case you missed it:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt188060.html

and

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt187897.html

Interesting. Just to buck the trend I am almost completely non-visual in my thinking and memories. I have a few snapshot picture memories but they are vague and almost black and white. Take something I know well, say my car. If I close my eyes and try to visualize it all I'll get is a vague idea of shape. I certainly couldn't accurately describe it even though I see it every day.

My memories are more patterns, concepts and words. My normal thought processes are a mix of words and concepts. For instance when I am programming I hold the pattern of the program's functionality and the relationships between all of the parts in my head and I translate that into the words of whatever programming language I am using. If I am designing a mechanical part I completely understand what it is supposed to do and how it is supposed to operate but I have to draw it to see what it would look like. I'm good at technical drawing because I am translating specifications into pictures. I'm utterly useless at artistic stuff because that tends to rely more on expressing internal pictures.

I have difficulty navigating around at times due to this. I can quickly get lost in unfamiliar places because I can't hold an internal picture of where I am and I probably won't recognize places I have just been. If I go into an unfamiliar building I have to consciously build up a map or I may get lost.

i to almost exlusivly think in words. my thoughts are an internal monolouge (dialouge or even trialouge at times) although i can also visualise mathemeticals shapes in concerence to complex systems since i took lsd. i can picture thing but only very briefly as to giving me a glimps of what something looks like. i can picture a banana as in i can know what it looks like in my mind but i can not actualy see it before my eyes much like i supose you can say words and know what words are and not truely here them in your mind.