Question about thinking in pictures

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Hello all,
I've heard several people on this website talk about thinking in pictures (as opposed to words). In addition, its supposed to be more common among autistic people. I am capable of visualizing fairly well but I think primarily in words.
So I'm posting a few questions here, because I'm curious:

What goes on inside your head when you think? Is it different for different tasks?

Are there any times when either words or pictures (or both) are entirely absent? What is that like?

Do you think in pictures so much and entirely that you have to make an effort to "translate" your thoughts into words?

If you think in pictures, do you consider it just another form of language?

Anything else interesting pertaining to this topic?

I am investigating what it is like not to have language, or to use it less, inside ones own mind.

I kind of assumed most people thought in both pictures and words, but I don't honestly know. I know I can think without words, but I can't think without pictures. Both are just labels in your mind, so it's not really much different. Thinking purely in pictures seems to be less likely to involve thoughts about social interaction, or dealing with other people for me. Words sometimes or even often attach themselves to the pictures that make up my thoughts, but the thoughts are still pictures too. Thinking without pictures sounds worse than being blind and unable to see the real world.
The only time when I don't have pictures or words in my mind is when I'm meditating, but even then thoughts will come, and those thoughts that disturb my meditation tend to be pictures more than words.

I almost never think in pictures...the pictures I do get are very shadowy. Nearly all of my thinking is in a collection of sounds. But I'm sure people will be along to help you as I believe you (OP) and I are the exception rather than the rule on this particular score.

As a visual thinker with ISFP personality, I would say I think in feelings and senses not just in pictures. When I think, there are various clips, pictures, graphics, diagrams mingled with colors/smells/textures/sounds/feelings/words. When I read abstract words I think in colors/sounds/feelings. When I solve a math problem I think in diagrams. When I listen to music I listen with all feelings and senses..But the way of thinking today is different from yesterday's. It constantly changes.

Thinking in only words happens when I read new theories that I never met in any kinds before. I want to say this state as blank. If the theory trigger my curiosity I would take times to understand them into images and I try to change the theory into any type of drawings such as maps and diagrams weaved on given logic in this procedure I create many new images of certain meanings.

"What goes on inside your head when you think? Is it different for different tasks?"
I´m pretty visual. When I try to understand a Word, I see it in writing, while analyzing. Sometimes, I can reproduce portions of pages and more or less read from them, if I have to explain something, I´ve been studying.
Hearing a lecture, I visualize the content, and sometimes the text itself.
LIstening to music, I see color, graphs and sometimes the notes or the fingering, or, simply fantasy Pictures representing the mood of the music.
When I write, I think in a mix of analytical processing of language - and in Pictures - sometimes in colors.
The visual part is allways there.
Thinking out do-it-yourself-projects, I alternate between seeing it in 3D and drawing, and I try it out in my mind and can often spot malfunktions in 3d.

"Are there any times when either words or pictures (or both) are entirely absent? What is that like?" Absolutely disorientated silence: Hollow Blurp.

"Do you think in pictures so much and entirely that you have to make an effort to "translate" your thoughts into words?" Yes, sometimes I do, but I was a trained teacher, so it´s not bad. It can be learned by extra focus on vocabulary.

"If you think in pictures, do you consider it just another form of language?" Yes indeed, and so is music.

"Anything else interesting pertaining to this topic?" Perhaps.
Thinking in language is just as much connected to synaesthesia as thinking in pictures, - Sound, different sensory input and recollection, - it Works the same way:
I bet, that if you can remember what your granny once SAID, you´ll probably be back to that day with all the smells, the light, the tastes and feelings.
This is exactly the same as when you remember the SIGHT of her house or something in it.

"I am investigating what it is like not to have language, or to use it less, inside ones own mind."

What goes on inside your head when you think? Is it different for different tasks?
Thinking in pictures is visualizing lots of things in my mind's eye, lots of mental imagery that I can control to solve problems. It is not much difference for different tasks, just lots of mental imagery.
Words are not needed, there is no accompanying narrative.

Are there any times when either words or pictures (or both) are entirely absent? What is that like?
I don't think so, something is always present when awake.

Do you think in pictures so much and entirely that you have to make an effort to "translate" your thoughts into words?
Yes, I have to translate, and it is not easy to do.

If you think in pictures, do you consider it just another form of language?
No, visualizing doesn't seem like any form of language to me.
It is just lots of mental imagery, many are flashes that solve something completely in one picture.

I am mainly a pictoral thinker, similar to like a movie or the internet, fast forward , pause, so my long term memory is very good ( back to 1 and a half years of age), especially with relationships when they happen, as i feel this might be one of my ""interests"", so can remember everything like it was yesterday, colours of clothing, even remembering the smells.. people are sometimes amazed at how precise and intricate my memories are, past exes try to make up a little fud, then when i explain the entirety of what they have said, they go into select mutism themselves, haha... I dont think in words so to speak, but when i talk about things that are deep and meaningful, it tends to come from a locked black box deep in my soul, a box i cannot see into to view, but just comes out of my mouth.. People think i am really deep person, but in reality they are only seeing a surface depth of my thinking, because if i try to explain in words what i think in the deepest parts of my mind it is not going to make sense to anyone but myself, and there are somethings that i just cant put into words, and to be honest i think it was meant to be that way! ... and yes, i find when i explain things, i have to read the language of the image and try to translate it into punctuation that can be remotely understood by the listener... For me it is like learning a new language everyday, never being fluent, but interpreting my 4th dimension thoughts into a context of social understanding, and yes it is very energy depleting.. but i love deep conversation when i have the chance, which is rare.

I don't think in pictures. I think in words, like a first-person narrative. Sometimes I get a song stuck in my head, but mostly I perceive my thoughts as sound, not images.

I've tried to memorise images, but I can never get them to stick.

I think in both - is that not normal?

I am very good at visualising compared with my NT husband but that might just be because he is really bad at visualising not that I'm especially good at it.

I do turn words into pictures so for example if someone said "pigs might fly" I will imagine a pig flying (cartoon image of pig in my head as I type this!). I think that might not be NT - husband says he doesn't do that ... But then he can't visualise so I have a naff control group!

I don´t believe, that thinking in Pictures is a strictly autistic quality. Then all artists and craftsmen should be autistic, which they aren´t.

Thinking in Pictures is normal. Thinking in language is normal. Doing both is normal - perhaps even average.

I think in pictures like I've got Google Images and Youtube inside my head. Whenever I hear a song I associate it with some picture or video that has to do with the song itself [for example, whenever I listen to Tifa's Theme, I think of Tifa].

I think entirely in pictures or videos when I get overly stressed or anxious. A very good example is attempting to start a non-scripted conversation with a stranger. It's almost impossible for me to do. I cannot walk up to a stranger and carry a conversation beyond, "Hello, how are you, good weather we've been having..." That's the scripted part of the conversation.

Worse case scenario for me is an argument. I lose all arguments because at some point, the argument goes passed my rehearsed words, and into unrehearsed areas, and all I get is images. I can see what I want to say, but the words that go with the images just aren't there.

Metaphorically, it's like watching an old silent movie inside my head. If somebody would just script some words into that silent movie, I could repeat them. But alas, it's called a silent movie for a reason.

When not stressed, I get a little slide show going in my head for the nouns, and video clips for verbs. A phrase like, "I'm going to the store," gives me:

"I'm"... an image of me
"going"... a sensation or video of my legs moving
"to the"...a quick image or map of the area that I'll be walking through
"store"... an image of the store from the outside and an image of the inside as I'm walking in

i think always in picture,,

im bad in word

I think visually the vast majority (>90%) of the time, the rest in abstract equations. The visualization part is extremely useful in designing molecules in chemistry research, as I can "see" the target molecule and how to get there from the starting point without needing to write it down on paper first. Most of my visualizations are not simple pictures of the outside of the object, but also a 3-D x-ray scan of the parts inside and the full motion of the object at the same time. I have the ability to visualize much higher/lower dimensions, while still maintaining the target object in my head.

When I am reading a long, very wordy document, my mind puts the visual pieces together in each section much like a picture puzzle. If I cannot "see" the pieces in my head, I have a much harder time understanding the document. I may read it, but not comprehend all of the information within it. That can be very frustrating at times.

What goes on inside your head when you think? Is it different for different tasks?
I see whole scenes in front of my eyes if they were reality.

When my mom tells me to empty the dishwasher I see first person view scene of going to the kitchen, opening the dishwasher and taking dishes out. The "movie" is so real that if I do it soon I might forget to do it because I will think I already did it! I will have a recent memory of me taking out the dishes after all...

When I am looking for an item - for example my phone - I will have the image of my phone in front of my eyes and then I will see a slideshow of places where I ever seen my phone. And I check them one by one. If this fails I will look around, with the picture of my phone still in front of my eyes and ... it's hard to describe. I sort of "put" the phone picture in various places in my field of view that contain something phone looking and decide whatever it is really there or not, it is a very fast process. I could probably compare it to how "google images" works except I not only find "similar pictures" but also all spaces that could possibly contain the phone. I see a pillow and picture first person view scene of lifting the pillow and seeing the phone there because it could fit there.

However visual thinking is not my only way of thinking.

When I hear some idiom I see it's literal meaning (like "every cloud has a silver lining" = a picture of a cloud with sun shinning behind it which makes the contours of the cloud silverish). But I will understand the actual meaning as a "feeling of hope".

And I will solve math problems by writing every equation down and then "feel" the right answer by looking at the numbers and symbols.

And its not like I don't think in words at all - I do it for communication purposes.
Even right now as I am writing it I hear a inner voice telling me every word I should write (or say - the same thing happens when I speak). I hear the words in my head right before I write(or say) them. I "record" and rehear what someone else said to me too - I can repeat it word by word.

It's just that I rarely think verbally to myself, except a few short sentences which I use for additional focus tool. "What are you doing, silly?"+image of what I just did. "This goes here."+pictures of an item and the place where it should be.

Are there any times when either words or pictures (or both) are entirely absent? What is that like?
Gray.
Huge, empty, dark gray area surrounding my eyes floating in nothingness.
The memory of the nights where I didn't remember any dream.

I guess you can also say my thoughts are absent when I stare at something. I am capable of staring at a dot on wall(for example) and have zero thoughts, visual or verbal.
People tend to ask me "What are you thinking about?" during that times, bringing me back to reality. And all I can answer is "Nothing". Because I can't think of anything I thought about. I knew I was looking at the exemplary "dot on wall" but that's it. There was nothing else and the "dot" wasn't even interesting, it was just there. A visual input. I could probably compare it to being "lost" during listening to music.

Do you think in pictures so much and entirely that you have to make an effort to "translate" your thoughts into words?
Sometimes, when I am tired or stressed. But it's not like I think in pictures more than usual during that time - just my "verbal translating device" is offline. I still see my pictures but don't hear the words I should say so I have nothing to repeat and have to think it out by myself. If I don't manage to get my inner voice awake you will hear me saying single words "me", "home", "sleep" instead of real sentences. I will also nod instead of saying "yes" and "no" because I won't even think the "yes"/"no" words.

Last edited by Kiriae on 24 Sep 2015, 1:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think strictly in words. I can't visualize at all, even when I try to conjure up an image of someone I know, all I get is a vague outline.