16 replies to this topic

[taikara]

Hey... a weird thought popped into my head today, and just thought I'd share the strangeness.

I realized that as I was thinking, I was also visualizing, with my eyes open.

Which made me wonder how other people think about things.

Some people think in words, while others think in pictures. Some people think in color, others black and white.

If you can visualize things in more than words, can you do it with your eyes open? Or do you have to close your eyes?

Curiouser and curiouser...

Anyway, let me know how you think

Personally, I can think in words and images, in color or in black and white, and can visualize what I'm thinking about with my eyes open  

[Triton]

I can visualize everything in full color (unless it's something in black and white), and I can picture things with my eyes open.  I tend to stare off into space without realising it, especially when I'm driving alone, though sometimes I drift off during conversations.  If my thoughts can't be pictured, I hear myself say my thoughts in my mind (my tongue even moves when his happens).

[Flop]

I think everybody is able to do this actually, although many people may not think about it very often. When I read books, I tend to visualize the characters and setting while I'm reading.

[DeathDude]

For me I notice depending on where I am, I can think both in pictures and words usually it's more into the picture side of things but they are probably both equal when it comes down to it. Usually it can be anywhere at any moment, if I'm bored especially I may just drift off.

As for the whole colour to black and white issue, I'm more of a colour guy myself, I do see the occasional thing in black and white but it's mostly colour when it comes down to it.

[Stroggy]

Flop, on Jun 29 2005, 11:12 PM, said:

When I read books, I tend to visualize the characters and setting while I'm reading.

Same here, is it possible to read a book without doing that?

I also tend to visualize terms (like foolish), I see a mental image of an action or something.

[Kon-Tiki]

I tend to think in images mostly, which sometimes makes it hard to put my thoughts into words. On the other hand, I can just as well think in words and links, which makes it horrible to turn those into images. My biggest problem's probably that whenever I need to think in words, I'm thinking in images, and whenever I need to think in images, I'm thinking in words.

Edit: And I've noticed that I think in English half the time, French 'bout a tenth of it, and Dutch for the rest

[Stroggy]

I've been thinking in english more and more, and I occasionally catch myself using english terms or desperately seeking for the dutch translation of an english word. For example today I was on the phone with my mom and I said I was jsut going to buy a magazine. Now usually I would have used the normal dutch term 'tijdschrift' but I just couldn't find the word, so i used 'magazine' (which is also accepted in dutch, but not the standard word)

[PrejudiceSucks]

I think in flashes of images. It's very strange. It's all in colour, but I usually see flashes of images that I have seen in dreams some time before.

[TheVoid]

I think in...connections. I mean, if for example I'm thinking about a situation, it will be linked to the many things this situation could lead to, or the many things from which this situation could have come. I'll try to make myself clearer: If I think about A, and A is connected to B, which is connected to C, I'll consequentially think about ABC(DEFGH...). To make a practical example, if I'm reading a book in which a wizard throws a fireball and incinerates a foe, I think [stream of consciousness:Joyce-hating-fellows warned!] hell it'd be quite very cool to be able to shoot fireball and such It'd kick *** at parties maybe you're hitting on a girl and another guy is so she asks him are you very good at something and he answers hell yeah I'm a pretty good tennis player oh cool says the girl     and you? pointing at me Me? I throw fireballs from my hands I answer and she says Wow this is totally cooler and discards the other guy yet the situation is problematic throwing fireballs has some downsides for example if you're in a fieldtrip and go to piss behind a tree and accidentally think about fireballs because I think fireballs have to be triggered by thought As I said if you think about it and actually FIRE one when you're pissing behind the tree this can be very seriously BAD! Not to mention that the forest would go on fire because of me running amok in pain and accidentally throwing loads of fireballs that destroy more forest than a trained squad of Amazonian woodcutters and this would actually bring a lot of trouble to me since ambientalists would be really pissed off and run after me to get my scalp and I couldn't defend myself because i would have ran off of fireballs and my only support would be Stroggy mocking the angry ambientalists because they're treehugging peacenicks hippies...[This could actually go on!/stream of consciousness ended for your sake].

I hope you got my point.  

[Tom Henrik]

I think like TheVoid. Thanks man, that was a perfect example of how strange our thoughts are

[DakaSha]

ive been thinking about this topic all day and have come to a conclusion... my brain works in a way that will not let me explain the way it works... or mabye im too lazy...argh


one thing i know is that when i think of something it will very likley leave my thoughts and proceed on to the next thing very quickly... ill think about 100 things in a couple of mins and then eventually ill come back to the first thought and the whole thing starts over... but with different branchings

well when i go to bed ill start noticing whats up and mabye tomorrow ill have an answer

[Doubler]

I use images for objects (When I think of a dam I 'see' an image of a typical concrete dam) and visual memories.
Sometimes I'll use images when thinking about what a certain action would ammount to, but this usually ends up in (Or maybe it is?) daydreaming.

I use sound (words) for more abstract thinking (School learning usually goes with words), and for memories composed purely of sound (Conversations, music.)

As for all my thinking; I believe I do it in layers. Such layers succeed each other rapidly (almost overlapping), and each gets more detailed. Simple example: I know what I'm going to think before thinking it. In the end it just needs to be formulated (sort of... ).

[Sebatianos]

The only way I can really think is to try and empty my mind out completely and then simply start associating things randomly - untill I come up with something that makes sense.

I many times surprise myself, but there's so much data in the brains that people have - and almost never really use... I guess I'm just connecting all the available data and making conclusions at the same time - thus prcesing the stuff I learned and making new thoughts at the same time.

[wendy]

Half the time I seem to be drifting in nothingness.  I don't think of anything at all...I just cease to be.  The rest of the time, I visualise while I think.  I try to control my thoughts so as to eliminate the negative ones as I believe you attract what you think.  However mind control is almost mission impossible.