Does anyone else think partially in shapes? How common

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I find it difficult to wrap my head around the fact that there are people who don't mentally visualise the information they receive. As for perceiving shapes, having a tesseract aimlessly float around up in the old noggin helps pass the time.

Is it a standard hypercube?

Maybe not quite standard when I add a little sugar to it.

I use a lot of pictures in thought, but even more often they are moving pictures instead of stills.
They are more representations of energy flowing through the spaces between materials.


As much as I enjoy geometry, I prefer the toroid shape and variations of.

Here's a rough example I found.
It's better than counting sheep.

http://vortexspace.org/download/attachm ... /torus.gif

Last edited by olympiadis on 11 Aug 2014, 1:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

Whoa, olympiadis, just looking at that thing revolving made my head hurt worse! Not trying to be upsetting, but I found it painful to watch....(I already have a headache from lack of sleep. Unfortunately, the way that "tornado" thing was made was dis- continuous, and made me have sharp pains in my head. If a shape is smoothly flowing, flowing into itself continually, it doesn't hurt. Go figure! :-/
GrandTuringSedan, I understand what you are talking about, and it does seem to me to be a form of Synesthesia. I can't do that spontaneously, but I found it interesting, anyway! My shapes tend to follow emotions a lot, so my guess is they are a form of Synesthesia, as well. Gives us more to study about, doesn't it?
Heliosphan, I admit I don't understand what you are talking about. Maybe you can explain it to me?

To OP, I don't really think in pictures. When recalling a conversation, I very clearly visualize where it took place and where everyone was standing (even months/years later), however, when reading books in philosophy or trying to have an interesting (what many NTs generally call "deep") conversation, my thoughts have motion and some kind of representation, but it is not visual; there is no seeing involved. But I can't exactly describe how the thoughts are represented and processed. Anyone with similar experiences and different words to describe this kind of thinking, now's your cue! I'm at a bit of a dead end in figuring out how to approach this problem.

This happens to me too, I just see the words on the page. Interestingly though when I listen to an audiobook I do visualise much more, words being said and scenes being described.

I only think of one shape, triangle. Each word I hear is broken down into syllables, each syllable is assigned one corner of a triangle. The complete triangles are then stacked on top of each other to form other triangles. If the finished triangle is incomplete then the word, phrase, sentence, etc. is not even and I have to go over the whole thing again to see if I missed something somewhere. If I don't find anything missing then the whole thing is just lopsided.

Huh, interesting. I've never listened to an audiobook. Well, I've found some homework!

I think visually most of the time and have to consciously apply words to feelings. And applying words to tasks like drawing, and sewing clothing and doing other constructive activities it actually messes me up if I try to narrate with words or think aloud to someone else if they want to know how I am doing something. My mind will do this constructive picturing without my consent. It's like a drive and it sort of controls me til I sew or draw whatever it is I feel compelled to. I get very hyperfocused to when doing these things too. It happens in academics too like chemistry . Also I have to picture what someone is saying to me on order to register what they are saying.

Have you read the other thread in this section titled, "Synesthesia"?

Wow, there has been some good feedback since I visited this question, last!

Quiver'sWhiskers, I didn't realize there was a section here about Synesthesia. Thanks for telling me- I need to read it.
I can kinda understand what you had to saying about your mode of thinking. It does sound interesting, without a doubt. I often can stumble over my own tongue when trying to explain things I understand to others. Makes me wonder if it's "just an autistic thing"?

Spectacles, you sound like you have a form of Synesthesia, yourself- being able to perfectly recall the layout of a given situation, and remembering things in shapes and motions (me, too). And just like any of the rest of us, you have your weaker areas, too. Still, INTERESTING way of thinking and remembering!

SilverProteus, I can have trouble making the words in a story book have meaning, especially if I'm pretty tired, or have something else really bothering me. Sometimes I've read the same sentence through 5 times, and if it still doesn't make sense, I either just pass it over, or, if tired, try to go to sleep. Audiobooks can sometimes help, but only if I'm really interested in what's being read. Otherwise, my mind just wanders off.

Perkulator, I'd never heard of the exact method of thinking you just spoke of, before, either. It is an interesting way of turning a complete (written) sentence into an understandable shape. Or to try to, anyway! My shapes don't work quite like that. I can't really fully explain just how they work, even though I just sat here for over a minute trying to, anyway! Haha! I do know they are often part of my "feelings" landscape, and this makes them pretty unique, I guess. As an example, I can "feel" the emotion love- It feels warm, very soft, and still very firmly supporting! Kinda looks like a cross between a mattress and the surface of a nearly- calm ocean. How about that? And other emotions feel their own ways, so you think it's Synesthesia? *grin*

Me too. I always found it weird that people could not make mental images and image patterns. I just assumed everybody did that. I once told my brother that I remember some phone numbers by the shape of the pattern they make on the key pad. He could not understand that. I mean he understood that I could do it but he said it's impossible for him to do that. I never knew people could not do that.

Also sometimes if I can't think of the word for something I just see the picture in my mind and then start doing like charades and make the movements one would use with whatever I am thinking of with my hands until I can come up with a word.

I don't know that I think in shapes though. I do get colored grids in my head sometimes though when I can't think of words. Usually they tend to be maroon and black but sometimes they are other colors. So I guess the grid is like a shape.

Skibum, I can easily remember phone numbers by the shape they make on the keypad, too! WONDERFUL!! That means I'm not alone with my own kind of shapes thinking and memory. Yours is the first post I've seen telling about that ability. Another "shapes" thinker- I'm glad!

Hooray! I am in great company now. It's nice to have a friend who understands!:D