Seeing two things at once... (badly worded title, sorry)

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Just before I get to my main point, sorry the title is badly worded. Its quite literal and I see no other way to actually word it, even if it sounds like I'm discussing some visual impairment or such (which I'm not, in fact I'm the only one out of my close family who has brilliant vision).

I can often be able to see images in my head, (some of which can be very complex) while at the same time be able to see and watch the world around me. When I mean see, I very literally mean it, as if the images are overlaid onto real life, but somehow (in a way I can't explain) still be separate to real life. When I was in primary school it was ridiculously helpful with geometry, as I could literally unfold a shape. The images can be of things I've seen, or totally made up in my head, and can be stationary or moving (and with depth at times).

I'm just curious, does anyone else have this ability?

What you experience can safely be called visions. You are basically unknowingly psychic.
I used to have such similar experiences but I did not understand what was going on back in the day.
Try to avoid telling anybody in-person about it though. Only refer to it as your extended vision;
otherwise the ignorant will robotically try to make you see a psychiatrist when there's nothing wrong with you.

I think what you are referring to is called visual - spatial thinking (also called "thinking in pictures"). I'm a visual - spatial thinker. Not all autistic people are but some are.

Temple Grandin is one, you see examples of it in the movie biography of her.

I think I do too. I can tell what's real and what's not, but I'll often be able to see words and images projected onto things. Although for some reason I still suck at drawing. I guess it's because I can see the end result but not clearly enough to trace it, and I can't see the process needed to get there. It comes in handy: studying, photography, Minecraft builds, and when I'm in a familiar store, library, or museum I can see a GPS-like map of where I am and where I need to go. Sensory overload and hunger can scramble those images, though.

It used to be stronger when I was a kid, and I would use it to entertain myself in class and on long car rides. I still do sometimes.

Respectfully, you are probably not "psychic". You just have very high visual-spatial intelligence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_a ... ualization

I am pretty good at visual thinking.

But I dont quite get the same phenom that you are describing. You may have a form of visual synesthesia.

Or maybe it is just an extreme talent at visual spatial thinking. But it sounds like with you its less voluntary than just imagining something in a vivid way.These pics apparently just come at you.

But no, you're not psychic.

I HAVE THIS!! !
Sorry, just excited to find somebody else. I know exactly what you mean, you expressed it very well. It's like your imagination is visible on a kind of film over reality. You can see the images as kind of projections, and you can see everything else going on behind. Still the distinction between the two is somehow clear, I've only blurred it a few times when my head wasn't in the right place.

You explained it better than me. But yay! Very cool to meet you.

You're a visual thinker. For me it turned high school geometry into a joke except for the proofs. I often finished tests in less than 15 minutes while the rest of the class struggled to finish in the time allotted. I'll never forget a geometry test problem where I didn't show my work because the answer just jumped out at me. I couldn't believe the teacher put something that easy on a test. Mean while, the rest of the class was unable to answer the question. Drafting was another class that I found to be extremely simple because of it's relations to geometry.

I see words in the form of the images they represent. A sentence such as "I'm going to walk to the store," generates a series of images starting with myself, moves down to my legs moving, a quick map or route, followed by an image of the store. The more stressed I get, the more visual my thinking gets, and less verbal. By the way, these images never get in the way of my actual vision.

You sound like me. I can do that too. Most of the time what I can see is a simple snapshot image, but I can also see more complex images, and can explore the details. Lots of depth, sometimes movement.

So I'm not the only one with this after all. Awesome!
I'll add in a bit further information; I'm able to often know whats behind me. Not as much the memory of what was behind me when I last looked back, but I can just sense what's behind me. I guess it might be from remembering the direction of movement and speed of what was behind me, and having incredible hearing (I can hear conversations on different floors of buildings through multiple closed doors at times). Actually, as a side point, in general all my senses can be incredibly sensitive. Once when I was younger I managed to taste that my mum was making spaghetti bolonase with a different sauce (like the same sauce, but made from a different recipe) from the smell of it in the air.

Well that sounds pretty cool, are you happy to have this ability, is it always a good thing? I see patterns where other people seem not too, but nothing overlaid or kind of awesome sounding.

I have a habit of glancing up to the top corner of my vision, as if I were checking a rear-view mirror. As I do this, I get the impression that I can somehow see behind me, and I can kind of see the picture, or at least what I imagine it to be.
I've always had this habit, and I don't drive so I know it's not actually related to checking the rear-view.

Possibly related, I can't stand people being right behind me. Can't work with my back to a door, or function with somebody looking over my shoulder. I always assumed this was an evolutionary leftover, it would pay to be this conscious of what's behind you in a caveman setting.

Some kind of sensory thing I guess.

Dean Radin talk...just because...

I often get visual flashes after seeing or hearing words - it's like instant visualisation, particularly with metaphors. However, it's in my imagination, and it's language related. I have minimal visual-spatial skills.

Not sure if you are talking about the same thing, but like if I'm watching a teacher talking and she's wearing a piece of jewelry, like a brooch, I'll mentally take it apart like it's spred out in front of her. And also will picture it being manufactured. Or when out for a walk, something like a chimney will catch my eye and I'll do the same thing. So whilst walking I'll see the road and the chimney at the same time. Take it apart, put it back together, bake the bricks, trowel the mortar etc.

^^^ That's visual-spatial thinking too Ezra