If you don't think in pictures then...

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I think in both words and pictures (sometimes moving images), but mostly in words. It’s like an inner monologue.
It does depend on the subject though; if I think of one of my pets for instance, I see an image (sometimes moving, sometimes still) of said pet, followed by my feelings for the pet.

For me daydreams are kind of like telling myself a story, as if I were reading to myself, except I think it instead, with some images mixed in. Kind of like a book for half-big children, with mostly text, but containing some pictures as well.

I am not good at visualizing at all.


If asked what I did yesterday, I’d first be at a loss and go “uuuhhhmmm….” Lol
I just tried (to give you as accurate info as possible) and first I drew blank, then I saw the dinner I ate (meatballs) and then I thought of my mother’s face as we were joking about a private joke (and then the sensation of joy as I thought of the actual topic, the words she said), and I ‘saw ‘Cartman’ because I watched South Park...
So a flashback like that is pretty much images, as are memories in general. But after the first wave of images, words have a tendency to take over as I try to remember and mention what I did yesterday. I only see whatever is in frnt of my eyes, but I don't really see it, my mind is occupied with remembering.


If you say cat, I do not see different types of cats, I see an image of one cat. It’s black and white and looks like Fredrik, the cat my aunt used to have.

Interesting Even if I was asked to think about a cat, there is no real picture. More like the ideal picture of a cat. I think of the Allegory of the Cave by Plato. it is not a real picture more a shadow of the ideal shape of cat, except it is mainly thoughts. Then if asked about different races of cats, I have them all lined up in some sort of filing system to take out and KNOW what they are like, not real pictures. Difficult to explain. Maybe it is best described as living in eternal twilight? But that dosn´t sound nice, it is not really that bad living in the land of thoughts

This way of thinking may explain why I have a hard time recognicing faces, and finding my way around town.

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The Allegory of the Cave can be found in Book VII of Plato's best-known work, The Republic, a lengthy dialogue on the nature of justice.

Helle

This is a really interesting question.

My mind works in different ways in different settings, though mostly I think in words. When I read, I hear words in my head primarily, but there may be images which come up as well. A recent discovery was how I remember places and locations in my head. A couple of years ago I moved to a different country, and had to learn where everything was in the new city I lived in. It took me several goes before I got it, and I realised that the problem I had was that I couldn't remember what things looked like from various angles, so if I always approached a certain building in one direction, but then found myself looking at the same building from the opposite direction, I wouldn't necessarily recognise it as the same building and then I would get lost. Basically, I needed to mentally take a lot photographs of any given street and the buildings along it, and then associate them in my memory with the knowledge of which direction I was facing when I "took" that mental photo. So for me, locations are very visual.

If you just say a random word to me such as "cat" with no context, then either I will see an image of a cat, or I will just hear the word and wonder what on earth you mean. I can animate the cat though. As I'm typing this post, I'm thinking of my best friend's cat, which is a ginger and white Tonkinese. Oh, it's just jumped off the table, and I've just heard the sound of the little bell thing round its neck as it lands. And I've just seen it shake itself as it walks across the floor, and now I can see the view out of their kitchen window, and now I'm walking through their house on a sunny day and can see all the details includiing furniture and people and so on. You get the idea.

People are more tricky - I remember names, but not faces very well. There is one person at church who recently died, and I can remember everything about how he looked - even the way he walked. Mostly I either hear their name, or I picture their face. I spend a lot of time looking at people's faces. I won't always remember every detail of their face visually, as most of the details of how they look are stored in my memory as words. Sometimes I remember striking details about people which aren't physical. Two years ago I went back to visit my old boarding school. There was a lady there who clearly remembered me, though I didn't recognise her name or her face. I drew a complete blank. Then when she mentioned her maiden name, I remembered she'd got married in Sri Lanka and ridden on the back of an elephant. After that came a lot of memories.

Maths calculations can be either visual or auditory.

Sometimes I think in feelings, and despite being good with words, often this makes it difficult for me to answer the question. Sometimes it would be so much easier for me if I could make you feel the way I feel, rather than pick words which vaguely approximate my emotions and opinions.

When I dream at night, I dream as if it is real life. It is a first person experience. I hear sounds, I taste things, I smell things, I feel emotions and physical sensations, and all the visual side of it is in full colour. Those colours can be extremely bright on occasion. I don't think I've ever had a dream that wasn't in colour.

My daydreams vary in form. If I daydream about riding a rollercoaster, then I will see the track as I move along it and I may feel physical sensations too. Other daydreams can be auditory or emotive depending on the subject matter.

In conclusion, mostly I think in words, but I think in other ways as well, depending on the situation.

Doesn't everyone think in pictures? Yesterday my mum said, ''ohh I can actually see the hotel we stayed at in the Isle of Wight last year!'', meaning she had a picture in her head of it as a memory.

How can someone remember something by always thinking in words?

I think in both, pictures and words, depending on what I'm thinking about.

I don't think in pictures unless its on purpose.

I think in words spelled out. When someone speaks, I see a white, brown, or colored background with their words on the background like I'm reading a book.

I thought everyone thought like this, but apparently this is some form of synesthesia, as I contacted (by email) an expert in the subject and asked him.

The only time I see pictures is when I am listening to music. Then, I can't control the pictures...usually.

I do daydream, in pictures, but it has to be intentional. I daydream much more easily in words. I guess you can say I "read" my daydreams.

Wow, that's an interesting one! What if you don't know how to spell what they say or its ambiguous, a different language or some sound that's not even a word?

I also see words spelled out when I hear or think them (in addition to pictures), complete with proper grammar and punctuation. I don't know if EstherJ is the same, but if it's a new word in English or a made-up word for English (like Harry Potter language), until I see it spelled out, I "see" the spelling the way it sounds. Often times, I will spell it incorrectly, and then, once I learn how to correctly spell the word, after some time, I begin to "see" the correct spelling.

For other languages I don't know, I don't usually "see" words for languages where a different alphabet is used and I can't make out individual words (i.e. Chinese), but I will make up my own spellings for French words or German words or other languages that use the Roman alphabet that I don't know. I am fluent in Spanish, and because of this, if the person I'm talking to speaks slowly and clearly enough, I will "see" words in Spanish just like in English. Same for if I'm thinking about what to say in Spanish.

As for hearing ambiguous speech, such as homonyms or poorly enunciated speech, I will "see" what I interpret the sentence to mean. Often times, I will be wrong and shocked to find out what the real sentence is. A good recent example is that I found a YouTube channel with lots of Frank Sinatra songs with lyrics posted on the videos. I have been a diehard Frank fan for years and have been listening to the same songs for years. When I watched the YouTube lyric video of "Jeepers Creepers," I was shocked to find that Frank was saying, "How did they get that size?" I always thought it was, "How'd they get that sighs?" The line never made sense to me, but I never realized that it was "size" and not "sighs" for whatever reason.

I had no idea this was a form of synesthesia, though. I have long described the way I think as if I'm reading a teleprompter, where the words just go by and I "see" them. I seem to have a form of spatial-sequence synesthesia, so if this is synesthesia, too, I can't say I'm surprised. It really can be weird, though, because when I replay scenes from my special interest TV shows/movies in my head, I am both "seeing" the scene and "seeing" the dialogue. The only time I don't "see" words in my head and have only pictures is when I'm reading or typing, because I actually AM seeing the words in real time. And similarly, the only time I don't "see" pictures is when I'm concentrating on watching something (and I'm not letting my mind wander). If I'm watching TV, I am physically seeing the screen but still "seeing" the dialogue written out.

Ditto OddDuckNash.

Like, everything you said is the same. Including the foreign language part.

My mind just seems to "make up" the phonetics and spell it for me if it's not there to begin with.

Only, when I'm learning a new alphabet, transliterations can slow me down. It took me months to get "shalom" into Hebrew letters in my mind.

Apparently, it's audio > visual synesthesia.

It's why I have to take notes in class. So many words go by...

I think in pictures when trying to remember something that happened in the past, or when I'm trying to think of a place, etc. And I think in words when trying to tell myself something or trying to think of something. When I daydream I do it in both, there's a constant chatter in my mind about something and also I can picture it too, sometimes. Often, though, when I am daydreaming, my mind is just chattering away like there is some real talkative person inside my head.

So I think in both pictures and words. I think in words more though.

So cool that we experience the exact same thing! I just did some research about this being synesthesia. Apparently, it has a formal name: ticker tape synesthesia. What's really freaky is that many descriptions/definitions actually say that it's like having a teleprompter in the brain. EXACT words I said!

I think in pictures, unfortunately it's paint by number.

Woah! This is cool.
I searched all over and couldn't find a name. I had to email an expert. What did you search and how did you find it?

Another question - do you see it projected in front of you, or is it "behind your eyes" as my expert described? Mine is behind my eyes - not floating in front of them. I couldn't drive if it did, because when I listen to music, there the words are.

Personally, I wouldn't consider that synesthesia any more than I would consider hearing the words as you read them from a book to be synesthesia.

I'm pretty sure I think in words (or sentences?), or abstract ideas named by words.

Thinking in pictures is really bad when I am driving, because my thoughts in pictures seem to take over my brain and replace the pictures that I am supposed to be looking at in front of me. I try to not think at all when driving. Turning on the radio and singing along to music seems to block off the thinking in pictures, so I can focus on the road instead.

Interesting, thanks for explaining. You (and EstherJ) must have been really good at spelling bees!