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

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As to memories, I usually recall them with pictures/video. I have some very vivid images in my mind, and sometimes I'm amazed at how I can remember whole video "snippets" from different parts of my life. The images aren't usually incredibly detailed, but I do have rare times where I remember even the silliest little details. It's not like a photograph, though. If it's anything like a photograph, it's more like a slighted faded one with a vignette around the edges and occasional dark patches across the image (where I don't remember what goes there.) Sometimes I remember sound along with it, but not usually. Rarely, I also have scents or tastes associated with it (which is why I always though it was weird when people said "scents are the strongest sense tied to memory." Uhh, maybe for NTs, but not for me!) A little more commonly, I get a tactile sensation, too.

Speaking of tactile sensations, one thing I forgot to mention in my above post was that on some occasions I get a feel when I hear certain words. Unfortunately, the few words this happens for aren't particularly pleasant to feel. For example, when I hear "sandpaper", I sometimes both picture it and feel it as though it's running across my fingers. "Concrete", I feel the texture of a cinder block across my fingers. The worst one, though, is "chalkboard", for which I get two unpleasant sensations- 1) I hear the screech of something going against one, and 2) I feel my fingers sliding down one as if I'm slipping and need something to grasp. Why can't I get these kinds of feelings when I think of good-feeling things, like "marshmallow"??

... Actually, now that I think of it, I do get that with one good-feeling thing. "Stingray." I think that one stuck because the first time I touched a stingray, I was entranced by how amazing and smooth it felt. If you've got a lot of tactile sensitivity and have never touched a stingray, you're missing out!

That's exactly how I think. Keeping several visual details "in focus" at the same time in my mind's eye is a near impossible task. My mind's pictures are composed of a one or two small details on a vague, hazy backdrop.

I can [/b]store[b] more complex images in my head, but can only view small parts of them in detail at one time.

(My last post for right now, I promise!)

Actually, there's a hypothesis out there (it might be a theory, but I'll err on the safe side) that the reason humans started language, art, and eventually, writing, was due to synesthesia. When someone has a visual/audio synesthesia, they are pretty much making a metaphor without even trying. If one person hears the sound "buh" and sees an object, like a rock, they are going to always associate the two. It's particularly easy to imagine when you keep in mind that the molders of language are children. Even today, siblings sometimes end up with a secret language that only they understand, without even trying. So if one kid was a synesthete and thought it was normal to see a rock when hearing "buh", they would naturally start saying "buh" to others when trying to communicate "rock". Other kids would pick up on it, and suddenly, you have a word that is mutually understood- the start of language.

The people that understood the language became the most successful at cooperating, therefore they (and their minds capable of understanding speech) passed on their genes. The people that were most eloquent had a better chance at surviving, since they could quickly communicate exact, urgent thoughts such as, "There's a lion coming!" or "Your hut is on fire!", which would more quickly illicit an appropriate response verses simply the word, "Danger!"

Anyway, it was likely synesthetic thought that brought about written language as well. When you're looking at a word on a page and creating a sound in your head, that is metaphor yet again, and it requires a lot of abstract thinking power. This abstract thinking power was likely just developing back when humans were creating speech, which might also explain why it took so long for us to start writing things down in the first place. But to put it simply, the change from spoken word to written word likely involved synesthetes and their unique ability to cross between the senses, again.

It is also interesting to note that some believe every human to be at least a little bit synesthetic. It certainly is a very widespread phenomenon, and probably under-reported since people that have it have always had it, and thus don't think that it's abnormal or special.

I also should note that I tried to remember the books I got all that from so I could cite them officially and people can get more info if they want, but I've read so many books on language that I can't remember which ones it was.

Interesting, when you said "Yesterday" I thought of a store and the Beatles song "Yesterday".

I think in pictures. I can remember scenes from documentaries or programs and those scenes become memories which contain information. I'm also something of a musical thinker. Actually, I often hear symphonies playing in my head right before I go to sleep or when I wake up; sounds like a recording. I'm able to hear faint music in my head whilst functioning normally. Sometimes I dream about music scores. How I think depends on what I'm into. Right now I'm into music so that's what I spend my time thinking about. I also think in shapes. I'll see points or loops that will have a corresponding word they derive from or action. In addition to being a visual thinker, I'm a mathematical thinker. Life is the biggest, funnest logic game you can think of. I don't particularly like mathematics because it's hard for me to relate formulas to real-life situations. And I'm beginning to rant...

I think in 3 dimensional moving pictures and abstract concepts that I can only describe as patterns and networks of associated thoughts, feelings, and ideas. There can be narrative but it is vague and incomplete. Sometimes there are ghostlike memories of words spoken. It takes a separate effort to organize and script a thought into a coherent verbal or written form and I always feel that I can't explain or communicate my thoughts exactly as I understand them

How do you daydream?

Like a lot of other responces, I don't really day-dream much. The only time I "see" pictures in my head is when I'm conked out and dreaming. I DESPISED "Close your eyes and picture" assignments in school.

When you think about what you did yesterday or any other memory, does it not play back in your head like a video or in pictures, at all?

No. I remember what was said mostly. Or I remember the feelings associated with it. Memory is a tricky thing for me.

If somebody says "cat" do you not visualise different types of cats?

No. I don't think of things that easily. If I think about cats, I likely think about how soft they feel, or facts about them. But it takes a lot more than just someone saying something to even have an associated thought of any kind.

So do you just see like.. Nothingness? What is it like?

In my head? I guess so. Haha. I feel things. And I recall bits. There's sometimes an audio-track of voices (not speaking to me but on repeat from earlier) that I can hear... but no sights at all. I don't think I've ever experienced visual-thinking at all. *shrugs* Can you explain to me what it's like to think visually? I'm rather curious about that!

That sounds a lot like me! It seems that it is very few people that have nothingness/blackness in their head (also among NT). It is very hard to explain how I think, as you say. I sometimes try to explain that i think in 1 and 0, a bit like a computer, don't know if this makes sense.

shaybugz, have you ever thought about how this thinking pattern influences the ability to do the traditional IQ tests? Mostly they are about pattern recognition and ability to rotate those patterns in your head. What if one do not have the ability to see anything in the head, and therefore no ability to rotate etc. anything?

So, my AS makes me part of a very small group and my thinking patterns make me part of a very small group - means that there are very few of us. Oh. and I have dyscalculia, makes me even more rare (I am not really sure if this is good or bad )

I think it puts me at a disadvantage. I can do simple ones, but the dumb cubes? Oh my goodness I usually guess on those! Still, other sections must make up for it because I generally test above average.

What's dyscalculia? I could look it up but I'm lazy. :-p Also, are you hypermobile? I have heard that's related to AS and I am. I can totally make all my fingers bend at the first joint from the fingertips above the knuckles to a near 90 degree. I never knew that made me hypermobile until recently, but I've had the ability as far back as I remember. I once showed off my "claws" for show and tell in school

I agree about the IQ tests. I think it puts me at a disadvanage (and I hate those cube ones as well), but I test above average. Normally people think I am smart (ohh.. and arrogant and other things ) I seem to do very well in some things (way above average, like fluid thinking) but I am very very bad at other things. And I am not good at social stuff and reading people

Dyscalculia is like dysleksia, just with numbers (and yes, I Can see the numbers (stupid question I sometimes get!)). It makes it hard for me to calculate stuff, understand math, read a watch, recognize faces, read a timetable and find my way around town. But - I still have a masters in biology and a minor in geography (well, I never learned to take the easy way - it seems that I always choose the hard way).

I am hybermobile, but I don't know if it is related to AS, lots of things are not.

Ah! Yea, I'm probably Dyscalculia too. I was constantly missing problems because numbers switch places on me in Math. Also I can't remember combinations, phone numbers, or any other random string of number and recall it without serious effort on my part. I'll forever screw up the order despite knowing the numbers that make it up unless I can think of a stupid nemonic that is so idiotic I can't forget it. For numbers it's the path my finger takes on a keypad to get there "works good with 2, 4, 6,8 which skip around the 5 or numbers next to each other. But if you just tell me the numbers I'm hopeless. And it's the path feel, not the visual path, as I'm not a visual thinking. very annoying. And I don't put myself around clocks because by the time I've figured out the time, it's changed. All digital for me!

I mostly think in emotions, feelings, visual and audio. I can sometimes see words. I always have music going on in my head, my head is never silent. I have an inner voice that is always talking. I've tried so hard to shut it up but it won't. There are three sides to it, too, and they always argue. I am very good at visualizing, like a movie, and I have to be careful while driving because if I start thinking too much, my thoughts overlay my vision. It's kind of like being transported to another world, I guess. The feelings in my thoughts are very important. I'm obsessed with studying emotions, and imagining how something feels.
When someone says cat, I think of and feel the feelings I have for cats. I love imagining how the fur feels, especially the soft fluffy ones. I love imagining sticking my face on the cat's fluffy belly, and I can imagine the smells, as if I'm really smelling it. It's weird, I'm really good at evoking the senses in my mind, such as remembering a smell, or remembering how something feels, or sounds, etc. But I cannot picture humans very well. They get all distorted and blurry, and constantly change... So while I can create entire worlds in my head, I cannot have decent humans in them.

(oh, and I also have dyscalculia, even though I love numbers. Even staring at a line of four numbers, I mess it up if I have to write it down or read it out loud. It made cooking and baking very difficult at first!)

I can completely rewind my day visually, Great visual memory. Always think in pictures. live mostly in my mind.

My thoughts are mainly words and feelings. About the closest I get to pictures is a brief flash of a vague outline. The words are like speech but without sound if that makes any sense. I guess the cosest way to describe it is like hearing the words but with no volume or pitch. They just exist as concepts. To a certain extent I can hear remembered sounds but only small amounts. For instance if I think of a particular song I may hear small bits of the music.

For instance if I think of an elephant I may get a brief vague flash of the outline of an elephant and an impression of size. The details are more like looking up a description of an elephant in a dictionary. I have a description of an elephant instead of a picture. This lack of visualisation can be a pain at times. For instance if you asked me to describe my mother I would only be able to give you very basic details because I can't 'see' her in my head to describe her.

I can do reasonably well in the cube questions in IQ tests simply by applying logic. I take them one cube at a time and compare them. I have been into engineering all my life so I have learned to work this way to understand how things work. However if I design something I have to draw it, even if it is really simple. I can understand how it will work in my head but the only way to visualise it is to draw it.

Well, now that is interesting! I have never met anybody with AS and dyscalculia and unable to visualize things! You could look into the dyscalculia thing, it is a proper diagnosis (but difficult to get that diagnosis around where I live).

I think this combination is seriously a pain and you have to be very clever to work your way around it (arrogant b***h, I know ) I have spend most of my life thinking that so many people were so much more clever than me because they could ad stuff together (and seemed to climb up that social ladder very easy). Then I got a job where I had to do a lot of international meetings (it can be easier to communicate with foreigners, because they do not have the same social expectations to you as your countrymen do). After a short time I had read up on everything related to the issues (the gift of AS hyperfocus) and started to combine the stuff in "new" ways (fluid intelligence). I found it very simple, most people had no idea of the implications I were talking about - and that had nothing to do with being good at math or being a social genius. The hard thing is to make people understand what you are talking about I guess that we somehow have to make up for the lack of eg. picture thinking by hyper-developing some other kind of thinking ------ does this make sense?---------



This description do make a lot of sense to me, I have it exactly the same way with pictures. I have loads of words in my head but without sound. I think that what you describe as having a description, like a dictionary of the concept of an elephant is very accurate (but I have no idea where I put all those dictionary entries and how they are stored).

I do not think that there are many who think like that, especially not around here WP. It sometimes bothers me when I see AS people (or others) claim that "we" always are excellent picture thinkers or great with numbers, because I am certainly not.

I am different from the different people

It was heard enough finding a doctor to diagnose my Asperger's, I can live without knowing definitively that I have dyscalculia too. Of course, it's good to know for one's own knowledge, and I can do that by cross-checking symptoms. As for over-compensation, I do generally learn very quickly, and I soak up information like a sponge- always have. I don't like writing up reports about what I know, but I do so very well, as I am rather good at expressing myself through writing. After fights/meltdowns with mom growing up, we'd always communicate by writting letters since when trying to talk another fight would break out. So there's that.