Visual thinking/learning

[VioletHaze_03]

I have been thinking about something for the past few days; I apologize if it sounds rather stupid/already known. When I was reading up on research about ASD, I found a lot about about visual-spatial thinking, and how this is a very popular trait in aspies. However, I do not do this.

I have trouble visualizing concepts, and creating pictures in my mind. My brain works using mostly sound. When I listen to music, I will create stories in my head for that song. I then replay and fine tune those stories for hours. I cannot immediately create mental pictures of characters I create, but I can replicate their voices in my mind, which creates the picture.

I never really categorized auditory thinking as a type of mindset, as I always thought one can only think in plain words, and pictures alone. But when someone pointed out my memory for reciting what people say, I started to examine auditory thinking as a legitimate thought process. I'm just curious if anyone else has this kind of mindset. I'm also wondering if this kind of thinking is prevalent among nts.

 

[dragoncat16]

I have good visual learning and good auditory learning, but I have trouble with crossing the two concepts. For example, when trying to learn some exercises in music, I do much better when I can see the exercises written out in notation. Even though I have great retention for music and can replay in my head a piece I have only heard once, I still need to actually see the written music in order to play it and analyse it. Otherwise, I can make visual images in my head very easily. Even if I close my eyes and just listen, I get a visual image of the space I am in just by listening to the reverberation of the sound.

The weirdest thing, and I don't know if it is related or not, is that if I put on ear protection in order to use a power tool or something, even with my eyes wide open, I run into things and am generally very clumsy walking around, because I don't have the auditory input telling me where everything is, even though my eyes are perfectly fine. It's just so odd.

 

[wight]

@VioletHaze_03 , there is auditory learning. Along with a number of others: Learning styles - Wikipedia

Standard teaching uses multiple approaches: lecture (hear it), presentation (see it), assignments (read it), homework (do it). If I remember right from my teaching class years ago, the general rule is people have to repeat a new thing 7 times to retain the information. Thus the repetition in the teaching process.

 

[SusanLR]

I have good visual learning and good auditory learning, but I have trouble with crossing the two concepts. For example, when trying to learn some exercises in music, I do much better when I can see the exercises written out in notation. Even though I have great retention for music and can replay in my head a piece I have only heard once, I still need to actually see the written music in order to play it and analyse it. Otherwise, I can make visual images in my head very easily. Even if I close my eyes and just listen, I get a visual image of the space I am in just by listening to the reverberation of the sound.

The weirdest thing, and I don't know if it is related or not, is that if I put on ear protection in order to use a power tool or something, even with my eyes wide open, I run into things and am generally very clumsy walking around, because I don't have the auditory input telling me where everything is, even though my eyes are perfectly fine. It's just so odd.

I don't find it at all odd that the ear protection causes stumbling. They work together.
A blind person has a much more keen sense of hearing and smell than someone who sees perfectly.
And the deaf have very keen visual conceptions.
One who uses both, relies on both. Take one away and the other will be weaker.

I have a strange experience with total darkness I can't explain.
If in a tunnel with no light I get dizzy unless I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. If I focus on that, it is not so bad.
But, in total darkness, like on a ride at Disney World that takes you through part of Space Mountain, it is absolute total darkness for several minutes. As soon as I was in that section I felt like I had vertigo and was unaware of my physical body. Like I was floating out of it.
For some reason shutting my eyes helped, but, it was still a bad feeling. Luckily I had a friend with me in the seat and I told him to hold my hand tightly so I could feel. It is strange.

And I am a visual thinker even though most times my mind has multi thoughts running at the same time.
But, mind visualization is the way I learn easiest and also remember.
I like how they demonstrate that way of thinking on the new series The Good Doctor.

 

[Symb10te]

I rely almost entirely on visual learning, and I excel at remembering objects, particularly those with bright colors. For instance, I know all the flags of the world off by heart and can see historical maps in my head quite clearly. At the same time, however, I can never follow verbal instructions because my mind doesn't process it properly - it feels like everything that has been said has been thrown into a blender and I'm unable to discern what exactly I'm supposed to do, not to mention that I also tend to "zone out" almost instantaneously in conversation. Another example of the dichotomy between my visual and verbal memory is my language skills. I was top of my English class in college, despite not having read a book since I was a kid, because, alongside having a natural predisposition for writing, when I learned new words I would often involuntarily create mnemonics that enabled me to process them. At the same time, however, I struggle to understand and process concepts like state, politics and context; despite getting an A* in A-level English, I still don't know what a noun or a verb is! Although I can use these words in my essays, if somebody were to ask me "What is context" or "What is the state" I'd be unable to answer. This is because, I think, my mind does not know how to retain and understand concepts without an accompanying visual image. The same is true of me when I read books - I'll read a book and five minutes later only remember the visual images I concocted in my head whilst I was reading. On the other hand, when I did some reading on diazepam at college, I was able to quickly understand the way it works on the brain by consulting a diagram and fitting an appropriate set of visual images to accompany it. So long story short, I can remember flags and diagrams from eons ago but struggle with remembering abstract concepts and conversations from 5 minutes ago.

 

[Streetwise]

I rely almost entirely on visual learning, and I excel at remembering objects, particularly those with bright colors. For instance, I know all the flags of the world off by heart and can see historical maps in my head quite clearly. At the same time, however, I can never follow verbal instructions because my mind doesn't process it properly - it feels like everything that has been said has been thrown into a blender and I'm unable to discern what exactly I'm supposed to do, not to mention that I also tend to "zone out" almost instantaneously in conversation. Another example of the dichotomy between my visual and verbal memory is my language skills. I was top of my English class in college, despite not having read a book since I was a kid, because, alongside having a natural predisposition for writing, when I learned new words I would often involuntarily create mnemonics that enabled me to process them. At the same time, however, I struggle to understand and process concepts like state, politics and context; despite getting an A* in A-level English, I still don't know what a noun or a verb is! Although I can use these words in my essays, if somebody were to ask me "What is context" or "What is the state" I'd be unable to answer. This is because, I think, my mind does not know how to retain and understand concepts without an accompanying visual image. The same is true of me when I read books - I'll read a book and five minutes later only remember the visual images I concocted in my head whilst I was reading. On the other hand, when I did some reading on diazepam at college, I was able to quickly understand the way it works on the brain by consulting a diagram and fitting an appropriate set of visual images to accompany it. So long story short, I can remember flags and diagrams from eons ago but struggle with remembering abstract concepts and conversations from 5 minutes ago.

welcome

 

[Symb10te]

welcome

Thank you!