Imagination question

[Deliquescent]

I'm hoping this will be clear and that I selected the correct sub forum. Do people really have spontaneous scenes or whatnot pop into their head? If this hasten to people is it a time killer? Why do they do it?

I always initiate using my imagination and there's always a purpose to it and when that purpose is fulfilled (usually the problem solved or I know what I'm going to do/say) I'm done. Is this unusual, is it "normal"? I just took a quiz on imagination - two factor imagination scale and it left me with questions. I always thought I had a good imagination, I can picture anything but it seems that's not what good imagination means maybe?

I'm just confused. Thanks for reading, I hope you have a fabulous time today/tonight as the case may be

 

[midlife aspie]

"Imaginative" may not always translate into "Creative". You are like me in that my imagination kicks in when I need to find solutions or "create" something within defined limits. I think that most people think of "imagination" as the ability to create "from scratch" given unlimited variables.

 

[Deliquescent]

"Imaginative" may not always translate into "Creative". You are like me in that my imagination kicks in when I need to find solutions or "create" something within defined limits. I think that most people think of "imagination" as the ability to create "from scratch" given unlimited variables.

Thanks for the response, this makes sense. I've misunderstood this for a long time.

 

[DogwoodTree]

Do people really have spontaneous scenes or whatnot pop into their head?

I think what you're describing here is visual thinking, which might or might not be the same thing as "imagination." All people (AS or not) fall along a spectrum of visual and verbal thinking, as well as other kinds of thinking (spatial, patterns, etc). This is a fascinating study...for me, it started with reading parts of Temple Grandin's book Thinking in Pictures.

For me, I'm always thinking in pictures. I have verbal thought that floats along on top of the visual thoughts, but the visual thoughts are where my real thinking happens. Temple says she sees pictures in her mind of items she's actually seen in real life, like a visual catalog of items. I'm not limited to what I've actually seen--I can create pictures of completely novel scenes, manipulating the items in the scene to change colors or shapes or size or position or whatever.

For me, it's also not just static pictures. I can also see in video, where the items move around, like a movie in my head. And this is going on all the time. I never don't see some kind of image...not even sure what that would be like. To me, it seems absurd--like, how can someone have a thought without seeing that thought in their minds? But from talking to other people, I've found that it is certainly possible.

 

[Nitro]

I think what you're describing here is visual thinking, which might or might not be the same thing as "imagination." All people (AS or not) fall along a spectrum of visual and verbal thinking, as well as other kinds of thinking (spatial, patterns, etc). This is a fascinating study...for me, it started with reading parts of Temple Grandin's book Thinking in Pictures.

For me, I'm always thinking in pictures. I have verbal thought that floats along on top of the visual thoughts, but the visual thoughts are where my real thinking happens. Temple says she sees pictures in her mind of items she's actually seen in real life, like a visual catalog of items. I'm not limited to what I've actually seen--I can create pictures of completely novel scenes, manipulating the items in the scene to change colors or shapes or size or position or whatever.

For me, it's also not just static pictures. I can also see in video, where the items move around, like a movie in my head. And this is going on all the time. I never don't see some kind of image...not even sure what that would be like. To me, it seems absurd--like, how can someone have a thought without seeing that thought in their minds? But from talking to other people, I've found that it is certainly possible.

That thought came to mind when I read this thread. I too share that gift. 24/7 to be exact,including when I sleep. I think I blow Dr. Grandin away with my abilities.When hit with a difficult mechanical engineering problem,my brain grabs images of both successful applications and failure scenarios to come up with the best solutions.My still images can morph successful applications with failures to prevent that situation from entering into the picture and get tossed back into the piles for future reference.
The moving images are usually presented in 3D with the ability to move around inside the clips. My images come in floods or bursts of images when the are presented as stills.I call that event my flurry. It is both amazing and baffling to both professionals and myself. From what I now understand about my condition,I am most likely eidetic. My images that appear from memories are in perfect detail to when I first saw them,not some hazy vague image. I have no control over what my brain saves,it decides what to keep and what to toss. It does save most of what I have seen,but the most intriguing part to me is the filing and retrieval system it uses. Let me just say this,it is usually spot on when it makes it's final decision.

My abilities as a mechanical engineer were enhanced by my ability to test mechanisms in full motion before the actual designs were set to drawings.There is no way to describe in words what a day in my life is like with my entire surroundings being studied in total minutia at every waking minute. As cool as it might sound to be like me,I have often said I wouldn't wish my condition on my worst enemy

 

[Deliquescent]

I think what you're describing here is visual thinking, which might or might not be the same thing as "imagination." All people (AS or not) fall along a spectrum of visual and verbal thinking, as well as other kinds of thinking (spatial, patterns, etc). This is a fascinating study...for me, it started with reading parts of Temple Grandin's book Thinking in Pictures.

For me, I'm always thinking in pictures. I have verbal thought that floats along on top of the visual thoughts, but the visual thoughts are where my real thinking happens. Temple says she sees pictures in her mind of items she's actually seen in real life, like a visual catalog of items. I'm not limited to what I've actually seen--I can create pictures of completely novel scenes, manipulating the items in the scene to change colors or shapes or size or position or whatever.

For me, it's also not just static pictures. I can also see in video, where the items move around, like a movie in my head. And this is going on all the time. I never don't see some kind of image...not even sure what that would be like. To me, it seems absurd--like, how can someone have a thought without seeing that thought in their minds? But from talking to other people, I've found that it is certainly possible.

Interesting, I've never considered that others don't think this way. I'll definitely have to read the book. I saw her movie a few years ago when I worked with autistic boys but I was watching it with them in mind to try to understand them perhaps better. I need to watch it again and read the book with me in mind.

Thanks for the response definitely food for thought.

 

[toothless]

i dont have imagination,my thinking is very rigid,it is visual based and struggles to convert to language in order to explain. i cant imagine the next step in a multiple step puzzle for example,if i havent seen it before,i dont know if that relates to my mild intellectual disability as that includes rigid thinking to like classical autism.

 

[Deliquescent]

Thank you so much for all the responses, I love all the learning I'm doing!