Do all aspies think in pictures?

Post Reply New Topic

Hi
I'm wondering if all aspies think in pictures? Because I don't very often.
Instead there is normally a stream of words running through my head when I think.
Thankyou.

I don't really think in pictures, but I have very strong sensory associations with words/ideas. This is often visual...for example...I was talking to a friend last night...we were discussing how i'm frequently snappy with him, but then i feel bad, and try to fix it. He said that it was a bit circuitous. My brain then pulled up literal images of a circuit, like the diagrams I had to do for physics...then stuck me looking angry into the circuit...then another image of me feeling bad...and then a couple of lightbulbs, for no reason I can think of. So...is that thinking is pictures, or just being skewed?

i have disorganized thinking
i can never plan ahead or even make plans, and actually carry them out

I'd say it varies from aspie from aspie, but there is probably an extremely higher proportion of aspies that are almost entirely visual thinkers then among the general population. I remember reading a little factoid in Meditation for Dummies on the subject of awareness of one's thoughts that only 2% of people are entirely or almost entirely visual thinkers, the other 98% of people have at least some substantial degree of verbal internal dialog going on in their heads.

I tend towards visual thinking, but not by a huge amount, I have plenty of verbal thoughts in my head.

I don't really understand the 'thinking in pictures' thing... how do most people think? When I think I think - sentences come into my mind, usually accompanied by a stream of accompanying images. But I would assume that by 'thinking in pictures' each word would have a picture as you thought it, like flashcards, and it would be a constant flickering of imagery. So I don't do that. But I guess I do think and as I think I get film strips or images related to whatever it is I'm thinking of, either the general gist of the sentence's topic or on occasion a singular image related to the word in particular. I'm also a great speller because I see a printed image of the word in question in my mind if I try to think of how to spell it, and just spell it as it's written down in the image in my mind. So I guess that means I 'think in pictures'. I just think it's a stupid way of phrasing it.

Seriously, how do other people think? Maybe I'm just being overly Aspergian, but how do you NOT think 'in pictures'?

I have difficulty following conversation, especially when there's still words running through my head. When I realise I have to concentrate on something hard, I'll probably think to myself "now I must listen really carefully to this" and by the time I've finished thinking that, I've already missed the start of what I'm meant to be listening to.

A thought in pictures topic

Not all. Donna Williams states she processes info via sound. Temple Grandin is a picture thinker. When I think of her name i imagine a large building (TEMPLE GRANDin).

I have tried and tried to understand this 'thinking in pictures' thing. I was told once to close my eyes and think of Buggs Bunny. then I was told to think of Buggs as a picture. I didn't understand. . what other way IS there for thinking about Buggs EXCEPT as a picture.

Can anyone please explain this to me? Was I to think of the printed words "Buggs Bunny" in my mind and THEN see a picture of the cartoon character?

Merle

edited to high five Le Kiwi!

I relate to that LeKiwi.
My impression was that all aspies thought purely in pictures which it now seems that they don't.
I do see pictures when I think but as I always have a conversation going too, I suppose I was concentrating more on the words in my worry that they meant I'm not an aspie.

Does anyone ever think inappropriate stuff when they don't mean it?

For example, someone told me that someone had died. I was sad because the person was nice. But in my head, were words along the lines of "straight to hell you stupid b***h"

It upsets me when I think like this because I really don't want to and I feel so guilty afterwards. Does anyone know where I'm coming from?

I'm wondering if those aspies who don't have internal monologues are those who speak in monotones? Maybe not a connection but I wonder.