CDRhom wrote:
Interesting someone should ask this here. I've been interested in the phenomenon for several years, since I was introduced to it as a first year grad student. Informal surveys seem to show that the Autistic/Aspie interviewees have a tendency toward visual thinking, and the ADD/ADHD folks tend toward language. There is of course, some variation.
There is a book out about visual thinking called "Upside-Down Brilliance." It specifically goes into detail on the aspects of the visual thinker, and the contrasts between visual and auditory thinkers.
This book stipulates that people with ADD/ADHD are most likely visual thinkers. It says very little about autistics and aspies, however. I have read that people with aspergers, given its seemingly high correlation with NVLD, are probably more auditory than visual. This book even goes further into saying that some visual thinkers can have visual processing problems, and so forth, so it can get a bit complicated trying to figure it all out.
I think a person thinks visually if he / she can visualize three-dimensional concepts, like viewing a three-dimensional cube and then being able to know what it looks like if laid out flat. I am nearly positive I can do this, though I have never been tested on it.
Overall, I would say that I tend to think in words, but I need to visualize to problem solve. A true visual thinker can spell words backwards in his / her head, simply because he can picture the text in his mind. I can't do this from a visual perspective, given I do this by sounding out such a word in syllables. I keep track of the syllables and repeat the word backwards. I have the ability for deep, cognitive processing, apparently above what many people can accomplish. I have already been tested, and I was able to recite up to nearly fifteen numbers backwards.
- Ray M -
28 Sep 2006, 9:31 am
