Do you think in pictures?

[Trophonius]

After speaking to an autistic friend I came to believe that I'm completely unable to think in pictures. Not sure if it's the case, because I cannot imagine how other people imagine things in their head.

 

[Magna]

For those that "think in words", do you see the words in your mind? Do you "read" your thoughts? I think in pictures unless a particular thought/word is abstract (ie the verb "to be") so I don't understand if someone "thinks in words", if you don't see/"read" the words in your mind and you also don't have images in your mind, does that mean your mind is blank but you're still thinking?

 

[Dadamen]

No words without pictures and no pictures without words, at least in my mind.

 

[narriose]

I also think in pictures! well memories or like video or gifs rarely static images but mostly visually. also think in instinct of like doing an action when everything is black like if i have to get up and do something im like seeing the action being done but with my body sort of? i think its like thinking in words is a middle man and im skipping that middleman to have more efficient thoughts? well sometimes as they dont always even register and it kind of feels like me vs my brain are different beings doing seperate things haha i can actually think in words but its unnatural and boring for me? no inner voice either and I thought that was pretty normal.

 

[Gift2humanity]

I am a visual thinker.
I also see sound.
I also hear what I am looking at.
I can feel sound.
I can also feel what I am looking at.
Synaethesia

 

[TopherPwn]

I think in both, but I also think in emotions too. If I'm speed thinking I see almost a story of different images merge together like a painting and how I feel about it while adjusting thoughts in words too. An emotional view is like adding a paragraph to an image. I can do words only or image only if need be. Still image, video, or both. Video is pretty quick or slow if need be.

 

[Booknerd515]

I voted that I think in pictures.
I think in pictures and words. Sometimes I even "see" the words that I think in my vision, along with lines/conversions etc. for mathematical problems before I've written them down-I've heard this be called visual thinking before. Which makes sense as I am very much so a visual person. I also, when smelling things, hearing noises, thinking of specific emotions, or seeing objects, may get a rush of pictures having to do with whatever I'm focused on in my memory.

I actually think in pictures so often that no moment goes by where I don't think in pictures because my mind space (or my thinking space, whatever you may call it) is a visual one. So I can draw up a notepad in my mind space, write things down on it, and be able to recall all of those words hours, days, or even months later. It's how I solve equations in my head or solve complicated problems without writing the notes down on paper in real life.

 

[Rat]

For those that "think in words", do you see the words in your mind? Do you "read" your thoughts? I think in pictures unless a particular thought/word is abstract (ie the verb "to be") so I don't understand if someone "thinks in words", if you don't see/"read" the words in your mind and you also don't have images in your mind, does that mean your mind is blank but you're still thinking?

I think a lot in pictures tbh but I also "think in words". For me at least I mentally "hear" the words being spoken. I think in sounds that are not only words as well tbh. Like I can picture different noises and "hear" them in my head. I personally don't see the words or read them but I've read an article before where some scientist guy said he thought in words and would physically picture the written word in his mind (and insisted that everyone else did too lol. I know I dont).

 

[Magna]

I think a lot in pictures tbh but I also "think in words". For me at least I mentally "hear" the words being spoken. I think in sounds that are not only words as well tbh. Like I can picture different noises and "hear" them in my head. I personally don't see the words or read them but I've read an article before where some scientist guy said he thought in words and would physically picture the written word in his mind (and insisted that everyone else did too lol. I know I dont).

When you say you "hear" the words. Do you mean when you're reading written text you have an audible narration of each word being "said" as you read them?

That's how it is for me. It's impossible for me to read written text without hearing each word read aloud in my mind. I that sense I "hear" every single word that I read.

 

[Rat]

When you say you "hear" the words. Do you mean when you're reading written text you have an audible narration of each word being "said" as you read them?

That's how it is for me. It's impossible for me to read written text without hearing each word read aloud in my mind. I that sense I "hear" every single word that I read.

When I read I usually picture what is happening or what the text is saying tbh, but I will sometimes mentally "hear" someone reading it or verbally saying what is being said (ex: the text says "he/she/it said" or something similar)

When I mostly "hear" stuff in my mind its when I am thinking to myself or imagining something that involves noise somehow.

 

[CBA83]

I do and until recently I thought everybody did. If I am adding two numbers in my head I see the numbers. If I am thinking about a concept like justice I see an image of a stern looking king from ancient Greece, godlike with a beard and sitting on a throne. That may seem highly imaginative but actually I am just recalling an image of justice I once saw in a church. (Remember aspies are not imaginative and creative.)

Anyway the idea of thinking in words sounds boring and weird to me. Now I have read that this causes problems for people in school. It never caused me any problems reading or taking notes in class.

This thinking in pictures thing seems to me like one of the big pluses of being an aspie.

As far as I can tell I think in near full colour 3d video. Its a bit like the colour in dreams.. for me anyway - Must be a palette picked for efficiency... It is the normal physical realm. I can think of possible and impossible things. Play out scenarios to some extent. The ability is something of its own, There seem to be phases and chages where aspects of the faculty change, But I cant say specifically how, just that it is different sometimes.

 

[Gift2humanity]

I dunno if I answered this thread. I think in pictures, some of them are abstract. They are in colour too.

 

[Bert22]

I think in words and pictures, and sound, sometimes smells or touch when there is association with other thoughts.

Its like.. thinking of coffee, I think the word and image of a cup of coffee, which instantly associates with the smell and taste. It happens quickly and automatically, my mind seems to like quick association.

Is that unusual?

 

[Progster]

I think in words and pictures, and sound, sometimes smells or touch when there is association with other thoughts.

Its like.. thinking of coffee, I think the word and image of a cup of coffee, which instantly associates with the smell and taste. It happens quickly and automatically, my mind seems to like quick association.

Is that unusual?

For me, a word comes as an image of the object (in the case of coffee, several images, because 'coffee' might mean a cup of coffee, coffee beans, a jar of ground coffee, etc) but also the word itself is an image - I see 'coffee' as it is written on the page. I can also imagine its smell and taste, but it's the visual image that comes first.

 

[Bert22]

For me, a word comes as an image of the object (in the case of coffee, several images, because 'coffee' might mean a cup of coffee, coffee beans, a jar of ground coffee, etc) but also the word itself is an image - I see 'coffee' as it is written on the page. I can also imagine its smell and taste, but it's the visual image that comes first.

Mine is more like subtitles on moving images. My stream of conscious thought is the text, they seem to occur simultaneously.

 

[watersprite]

I think in pictures and in a sort of word-triggered activity of categories within patterns.

 

[Aecho]

For me it depends. In short form thoughts usually just speech with no images. But more intense or deeper thoughts are played out in my head like a movie (with accompanying music!) or sometimes with narration and still images. I have hard time not letting it drain my energy completely if I’m not busy with something else.

 

[UniqueName#5768]

I do and until recently I thought everybody did. If I am adding two numbers in my head I see the numbers. If I am thinking about a concept like justice I see an image of a stern looking king from ancient Greece, godlike with a beard and sitting on a throne. That may seem highly imaginative but actually I am just recalling an image of justice I once saw in a church. (Remember aspies are not imaginative and creative.)

Anyway the idea of thinking in words sounds boring and weird to me. Now I have read that this causes problems for people in school. It never caused me any problems reading or taking notes in class.

This thinking in pictures thing seems to me like one of the big pluses of being an aspie.

I think in words, pictures, sounds, and concepts, doesn't everyone? For me it's very context/mood dependent. For instance, sometimes I'll hear a word or phrase and it'll remind me of a song that will start to play in my head. Or maybe I'll be trying to figure out how something works and a sort of 3d model of it shows up in my mind's eye so I can manipulate different parts of it. Or maybe I'm trying to figure out what a word I've never seen before means and how to pronounce it so my mind will sort through a library of words with similar roots and/or affixes. Another thing to add just because I'm curious, do you hear a sort of voice in your head when you read something, and if so, can you change what the voice sounds like? I can make it sound like anybody who's speech patterns and voice I'm familiar with, but I haven't heard of anybody else doing this.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

The clearest visuals I could remember were pictures of diagrams and assemblies when I was working in nuclear pharmaceutical manufacturing.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I do not literally think in pictures, picturing concepts etc. is easy for me even what others would consider not possible, eg quantum mecchanics, I have a sort of statistical minds eye view. Ii have used this skill to untangle industrial processes. even human behavior. Second nature to me.once got tested bya phychologist used words like incredible ability formal training would require a phd for what I can do naturally.