Yet another non-verbal thought discussion

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I think there are a few of these types of threads here already, but I felt like making a new one just for the heck of it.

This seems to be a thing with aspies, thinking non-verbally more than NTs usually do. I notice in myself I can be very aware of the difference between verbal and non-verbal thought, especially how verbal thoughts are much slower and almost always start with a non-verbal thought as a kernel. It's not always a clear distinction, it can be kind of non-verbal with a few words, or mostly verbal, or mostly non-verbal. I also notice that even though non-verbal thoughts are more closely linked to visual thoughts I don't think that they are always the same. You can just have a pure concept without words or images blip in your mind, and usually the other stuff comes later.

Visual thinking is definitely faster than verbal thinking, sometimes I think that language is somewhat of an impediment to human thought sometimes. If only we could communicate telepathically, that would be so much more efficient. I think that part of the distinction between the non-verbal core of most thoughts must be more closely tied with the subconscious. This also explains why non-verbal thoughts seem to be much more strongly tied to visual thoughts, because the subconscious deals with things visually and metaphorically, not verbally. Then your conscious mind must tack some words onto it because it's been trained to do that.

My dreams frequently combine the verbal with the visual in a complementary relationship.

I think both verbal and visual, but predominately visual . When I'm thinking at abstract ideas, I see in my mind such ideas like diagrams, graphics, Lego pieces, and I have internal monologue about them like in an scientific presentation. For example, when I speak about the three types of thinking my way of thinking, I see a bar diagram with such types. When I think at time units, for example when I hear "12 weeks", or when I think "another 12 weeks before holiday", I see something like a ruler divided in 12 units. Or when I think at "2 weeks", I see two serial rulers divided in 7 colored units, the days, of which 2, the weekends are different colored. Or when I'm thinking at a place, I see in my mind the map and then pictures of such place with few words.

My non-verbal thinking is very useful once I can translate it into words, but it takes time.
Sometimes I forget the words I need. Sometimes, I get interrupted before the image translates into words.

But, if I am given the time to get the words out, those images provide much detail that can be useful. I can "look" at every aspect in my head.

This is why I am so good at giving directions. I am able to see the entire map in my head and then walk through it. But, I have to finish walking through and the directions sort-of have to "download" into words before I can start explaining to someone how to get somewhere/do something. If they are willing to wait for me to finish walking through my map, then they will get help.

Usually that doesn't take too long with directions, but in other areas of life my "viewing and downloading time" can sometimes be too long and people lose patience or interrupt me which jams up the whole process.

I never heard about visual thinking being connected to the subconscious. Rather, I learned that all people think visually as babies and young children, and that upon the acquisition of language most people start thinking verbally. That is why most people cannot remember their very early years. Those first memories are stored in our mind in visual forms, not verbal forms. They can only be accessed visually, but most people are stuck in verbal thought and cannot access them. Those who think visually can usually access early memories better.

While much of my thinking is visual, not all of it is. I think verbally enough to not have much of a problem in life, as long as people are patient with me when I get stuck on my words.