Trait difference between Visual, Verbal etc. thinkers
It seems to me that the predominant thinking style has a huge impact on a range of ASD traits and probably also the types of difficulty encountered. Eg. someone who is a purely visual thinker will often have trouble translating thoughts into words to communicate, but presumably a verbal thinker wouldn't have this problem?
I just wondered if you could describe your predominant thinking style and which traits you do or don't have as a result.
Main thinking styles I know of are: Visual, Verbal, Pattern, Conceptual... [I'll add more if you suggest them]
As an example:
My father seems to be an entirely verbal thinker. He's incredibly well informed and articulate. He can discuss any subject of interest to him at great great length, but if he isn't interested he won't even register that said subject exists. Interestingly though, he's quite a slow reader (like me).
He loves creative projects but can't seem to visualise anything so it's always more about copied geometric patterns and colours pieced together than any genuinely 'original' creations. If we suggest moving a piece of furniture and ask his opinion he can't comprehend unless we draw him a picture of what it would look like. He also can't find butter in the fridge and he's completely tone deaf.
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AQ: 32 (up to 37 when answering instinctively); EQ: 21 - 24; SQ: 31
Reading the Mind in the Eyes: 32
RAADS-R: 85
RDOS Aspie score: 115/200; NT score: 79/200
Last edited by Filipendula on 14 Dec 2012, 4:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
lm very verbal with weak visual skills and think people with this wiring lean toward NVLD(which is a different manifestation of AS IMO).
Though as a result l'm inherently more expressive whch has lead to a more social personality(or at least a personality that "seems" social) because l'm animated, etc.
l also see even more similarities between NVLD and ADHD which l actually am diagnosed with
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whirlingmind
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I came out as a visual style thinker also with superior verbal skills on the WAISIII so perhaps I have a combination of compensatory abilities. I am far better in text than I am with speaking because having to make eye contact and just the whole communicating with other people makes me anxious so I frequently can't articulate enough, forget what I wanted to say, say things wrong, although because of my good vocabulary people still think I'm intelligent.
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*Truth fears no trial*
DX AS & both daughters on the autistic spectrum
I am a verbal thinker (spoken words, not text, but there are also visuals though) but I am not good at translating thoughts into words. That might sound odd, and it is, I don't understand it myself.
It seems when I'm in a conversation, I can't think well verbally anymore, it just doesn't work, making it useless for me to try to plan what I'll say in detail before saying it as I won't be able to remember the details of any such plans.
So when I speak, I somehow (I still can think in some way but badly) can't remember words and in what order I should put them, so I just end up pausing often in an attempt to remember words and saying them in the wrong order with bad grammar. I don't know why this happens.
As to why I'm not especially good at typing...that is more just ignorance of many grammar rules in english (and mostly just having learnt my english passively rather than actively - I haven't exactly gone out of my way to better my english, but I look up words if I don't know them and such but usually I just try to find another way to phrase a sentence if the grammar is causing me too much trouble because it would be hard and unpleasant to try to find how it should really be, unfortunately sometimes I am not able to force myself to switch to a better sentence structure due to the other reason I'm just about to explain ->) coupled with an annoying need to have my typed text sound a certain way in my mind, and then feeling 'wrong' somehow if I make them sound too different through editing (I annoy myself greatly with this). Okay, there's also that I sometimes seem to get bored of typing and start thinking of something else because I wasn't able to type my thoughts fast enough so I've already moved on in my mind and it becomes hard to force myself to return to the earlier thoughts so I can finish my text.
Anyhow. I am open to having others correct my grammar, spelling, incorrect usage of words and so on! I know my english is rather bad but I have very, VERY bad self-discipline - which is why I just learn english passively through reading - so any help (okay, I actually won't welcome help tinged with arrogance, so please be pleasant at least?) that doesn't actually require me to go out of my way to some other sites to read up on english grammar in detail would be appreciated. (And I hate these overly long sentences I am prone to.) I can't guarantee I would remember anything new immediately but I would try.
- When you think, do you hear ('Inner monologue'? Like how in movies and such sometimes a character's thoughts are represented by speech) or see words in your mind? Then you're verbal.
- If you mainly think in images (I don't know how that works in practice as it's not my own thinking style, just secondary) you're visual.
- And pattern, I think that's when you have some sort of odd logical system in place that you think with? Again, I can't possibly imagine how it works in practice as it is not how my thoughts work, my thoughts are very disorganized and chaotic but this would be a very organized type of thinking.
- Concepts, if you just simply think and there are no words, images or systems in place. (I always thought it mean this anyhow? As a verbal thinker, this is known to me most when I can't remember a word. I still know the concept I am referring to - say, if I forget the word 'think' I still know that I am looking for the word that represents what I'm doing right that minute and all the time in my mind - I just can't remember what it's called. But I know the concept. So a conceptual thinker would mainly think in concepts, ideas of things.)
I am very bad at explaining and I might have gotten these wrong but ah well I'll just reply to this anyhow.
Anyhow. I am open to having others correct my grammar, spelling, incorrect usage of words and so on! I know my english is rather bad but I have very, VERY bad self-discipline - which is why I just learn english passively through reading - so any help (okay, I actually won't welcome help tinged with arrogance, so please be pleasant at least?) that doesn't actually require me to go out of my way to some other sites to read up on english grammar in detail would be appreciated. (And I hate these overly long sentences I am prone to.) I can't guarantee I would remember anything new immediately but I would try.
I think your issue is actually perfectionism. Your spelling and grammar are good and your tone and sentence structure come across as natural and conversational which is precisely how it should be in my mind.
_________________
AQ: 32 (up to 37 when answering instinctively); EQ: 21 - 24; SQ: 31
Reading the Mind in the Eyes: 32
RAADS-R: 85
RDOS Aspie score: 115/200; NT score: 79/200
- If you mainly think in images (I don't know how that works in practice as it's not my own thinking style, just secondary) you're visual.
- And pattern, I think that's when you have some sort of odd logical system in place that you think with? Again, I can't possibly imagine how it works in practice as it is not how my thoughts work, my thoughts are very disorganized and chaotic but this would be a very organized type of thinking.
- Concepts, if you just simply think and there are no words, images or systems in place. (I always thought it mean this anyhow? As a verbal thinker, this is known to me most when I can't remember a word. I still know the concept I am referring to - say, if I forget the word 'think' I still know that I am looking for the word that represents what I'm doing right that minute and all the time in my mind - I just can't remember what it's called. But I know the concept. So a conceptual thinker would mainly think in concepts, ideas of things.)
I am very bad at explaining and I might have gotten these wrong but ah well I'll just reply to this anyhow.
Thank you for explaining. I still don't know which one of those I am (it's verbal now, but I'm trying to figure out how to word what I'm trying to say in this post so I guess that would always be verbal), but I'll pay attention to how I'm thinking today.
I'm a very verbal thinker. I can discuss topics of interest to me at length, but I'm still not good at conversations. I still think entirely in words in those settings, but I have issues getting those words to come out of my mouth. I sound rather eloquent in my head; however, when the words come out (if they come out), they aren't exactly how I had planned them. Very often, I cannot get the words out at all; especially, if I'm attempting to describe my feelings or something along those lines.
I have trouble visualizing things. Generally, I need a diagram or picture to fully see it. I'm, also, tone deaf.
I have both NVLD and AS, and I am both an extremely verbal and extremely visual thinker. While spatial orientation and 3D rotation is still very difficult for me due to my NVLD, I believe that being a very visual thinker is why I have been able to overcome a lot of my NVLD deficits. I learn and understand best by having both words and pictures/diagrams. Having one or the other leaves big gaps in my comprehension.
When I think silently to myself, I both "hear" AND "see" the words (I am quite certain I have ticker-tape synesthesia). But at the same time, I'm also visualizing scenarios or replaying scenes in my head.
When I am listening to somebody speak, I "see" the words in my head, but I also have images/scenarios going on that I'm visualizing.
And when I read silently, I "hear" the words in my head and have extremely intense visualization. Almost every word or sentence I read is transformed into an image or a scene, and this is why I am such a slow reader (it takes lots of time for me to "see" the concepts I'm reading) and why I have a "photographic" memory for what I read.
Does anyone else think both in images and words? I never am fully aware of how others think, if my thinking style is really all that different or not.
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Helinger: Now, what do you see, John?
Nash: Recognition...
Helinger: Well, try seeing accomplishment!
Nash: Is there a difference?
My thoughts are an endless stream of verbage, my voice, other people's voices, just words, words, words. In spite of this, I am bad at conversation because I get tangled up in my own words, wonder off on tangents, can' t keep track of what the other person is saying and blurt out things that alter the course of conversation in ways I didn't mean for it to go. I do much better expressing myself in writing, probably because I can mull it over for a long time before releasing the thought into the world.
I can also bring a picture of something into my mind easily. Memories are like photos that I flip through, a little picture of something past. It is easy for me to rotate shapes in my mind or to "pop up" into the sky in my mind to get a mental bird's eye view if I am navigating around some place.
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