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Simple question, complex answer.

Growing up it never occurred to me that people think differently, primarily HOW they think. This topic fascinates me personally, because how we think is such a huge part of our lives, but imagining how someone else thinks can be incredibly difficult.

For me, as long as I can remember, I my thoughts have worked like a movie but im in control of everything. Everything I think is played out like an interactive movie. As I type this I am watching myself in my head type while I speak out loud in a room. I can think in any way as long as its image and sound based. I can't think nothing, ever (which I think leads to my migraines). As a kid I struggled with writing and math, I couldn't even copy a simple sentence off the board without spelling mistakes. This also has the negative side effect of day dreaming with eyes open a lot. It is very easy for me to add to my vision what I am thinking (I guess like kids do with imaginary friends?).

I am told this is apparently could be Dyslexia by my friend (below) who went to a professional for help at school. It is interesting to note that kids who are diagnosed with dyslexia earlier in school life struggle to overcome this. However those who go through school not knowing find methods to cope with their problems not even realizing they are different. I ended up growing up thinking I was dumb, having to write essays literally 15+ times until there where no spelling mistakes in it. It was not uncommon for me to have to re do work multiple times just so my parents would allow me to hand in to the teacher. After a rocky start I managed to go through school fine.

In sharp contrast my GF apparently thinks with words? Sometimes able to imagine a still image of something. I cannot comprehend this very well. I can only imagine her mind as if I am viewing it from me in my imagination. I have a friend exactly the same as me, and we often click and understand each other 100% of the time, while my GF doesn't understand me as readily, needing to be explained rather than suggested. Another friend of mine thinks exactly like me but with no sound. We also understand each other very well as we can explain things as we think them.

I did not know that not everybody thought differently until I was 18. I simply assumed we all generated our thoughts in the same way.

Apparently some people think through simply narration or only words (like my GF) or in pictures.

So how do you guys think? What goes on in your head?

Somewhat similar, but I function more like a filing cabinet. Everything is logged, everything is shuffled away, although data is lost to the grinding gears of time and the memory erosion effects of clinical depression.

This is a form of Dissociative Disorder.

It is pretty common among people who are said to be more "Sensitive" or "Artistic" or "Creative."

But it does not occur solely among them.

This also goes to the question of "What is Thought?" which can be complex in dealing with the level of the question, just as a start.

I have different experiential modalities (means of thinking - modalities is the formal/technical word for it), but typically things are in "words" (although in a variety of languages, depending upon where I am, or with whom).

But I also have experienced that feeling of being in a movie, or like I am a homocuulous in my head driving my body (Which is called a "Homunculi Syndrome" not surprisingly - it is that feeling of driving your body, or watching yourself as if you are in a movie).


Pretty typical stuff.

I am going to guess that you are still pretty young, as typically this sort of association tends to decrease with age in most people.

MB

I'm dyslexic and was diagnosed at an early age, perhaps 7 or 8 years old. My mother was a specialist teacher on the subject so I had no chance of slipping through the net.
I don't actually agree with your point that people cope with it better if undiagnosed or diagnosed at a later point in life. Many focus their attentions elsewhere and avoid reading, writing and maths to the detriment of not fulfilling their potential. I have known those that have used it as a crutch and their excuse for not trying.
Personally I found that knowing that I was dyslexic meant that I was very aware that my work should be checked, rewritten and checked again. Reading and writing as much as possible really helped me to overcome a lot of the problems.
It has made me better than many with the use of language, albeit a bit slower than the norm.

Feel free to pont out any spelling and grandma mistakes. Cheers.

Edit : In response to the actual question posed. I think in a very logical, creative and visual way too. There are links between dyslexia, the autistic spectrum and a strong left side of the brain, so yeah, I suppose I'm one of them. There will be many more, of varying degrees, on this website. Logical, attention to detail, creative. Sounds like wargaming to me.

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:


Feel free to pont out any spelling and grandma mistakes. Cheers.

This made me laugh, because it is similar to mistakes I make. Although I am not a diagnosed dyslexic.

I do get things backward an awful lot though with numbers (Minus signs are stalking me. They want to kill me in my sleep).

MB

BeAfraid wrote:
This is a form of Dissociative Disorder.

It is pretty common among people who are said to be more "Sensitive" or "Artistic" or "Creative."

But it does not occur solely among them.

This also goes to the question of "What is Thought?" which can be complex in dealing with the level of the question, just as a start.

I have different experiential modalities (means of thinking - modalities is the formal/technical word for it), but typically things are in "words" (although in a variety of languages, depending upon where I am, or with whom).

But I also have experienced that feeling of being in a movie, or like I am a homocuulous in my head driving my body (Which is called a "Homunculi Syndrome" not surprisingly - it is that feeling of driving your body, or watching yourself as if you are in a movie).


Pretty typical stuff.

I am going to guess that you are still pretty young, as typically this sort of association tends to decrease with age in most people.

MB

Well its not a feeling of being in a movie, I only think in the form of a movie.. always. First person, 3rd person, not me etc... always. But yea I think I get what you mean.

And yes I am very young at only 21.

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
I'm dyslexic and was diagnosed at an early age, perhaps 7 or 8 years old. My mother was a specialist teacher on the subject so I had no chance of slipping through the net.
I don't actually agree with your point that people cope with it better if undiagnosed or diagnosed at a later point in life. Many focus their attentions elsewhere and avoid reading, writing and maths to the detriment of not fulfilling their potential. I have known those that have used it as a crutch and their excuse for not trying.
Personally I found that knowing that I was dyslexic meant that I was very aware that my work should be checked, rewritten and checked again. Reading and writing as much as possible really helped me to overcome a lot of the problems.
It has made me better than many with the use of language, albeit a bit slower than the norm.

Feel free to pont out any spelling and grandma mistakes. Cheers.

Edit : In response to the actual question posed. I think in a very logical, creative and visual way too. There are links between dyslexia, the autistic spectrum and a strong left side of the brain, so yeah, I suppose I'm one of them. There will be many more, of varying degrees, on this website. Logical, attention to detail, creative. Sounds like wargaming to me.

True my statement was very broad, but from personal experience those who grew up being dyslexic used it as an excuse for everything and tended not to fair well. The course my friend went to was to try teach them how to overcome it but he found the things he was taught he had already done since he was in the course at a late age.

Definitely agree on your last point, I think the ability to fully visualize things like models on the table etc is a huge draw in for many people.

 Wyzilla wrote:
Somewhat similar, but I function more like a filing cabinet. Everything is logged, everything is shuffled away, although data is lost to the grinding gears of time and the memory erosion effects of clinical depression.

That is certainly different... Never heard that one before. Very interesting.

I tend to think with words. Like BeAfraid, the language can vary (currently Im thinking in english, for instance, usually I think in german, but it varies.). Unlike OP, thinking nothing is quite easy. I just dont say anything in my head. Images dont usually feature in my thought processes, but if Im planning to build something, for instance, or want to remember a face, an image, anything visual, I tend to do so. Often animated and in 3D.

Its definitely a weird topic to talk about though. Its kind of hard to imagine that not everyone thinks in the same ways you do, though the topic has come up with a friend, who thought in ways similar to the OP. Kind of interesting, really.

 Tyr13 wrote:
I tend to think with words. Like BeAfraid, the language can vary (currently Im thinking in english, for instance, usually I think in german, but it varies.). Unlike OP, thinking nothing is quite easy. I just dont say anything in my head. Images dont usually feature in my thought processes, but if Im planning to build something, for instance, or want to remember a face, an image, anything visual, I tend to do so. Often animated and in 3D.

Its definitely a weird topic to talk about though. Its kind of hard to imagine that not everyone thinks in the same ways you do, though the topic has come up with a friend, who thought in ways similar to the OP. Kind of interesting, really.

You will not believe how much I would love to simply not think. Trying to sleep is a real issue because of the noise of my thoughts I guess, would be nice to just be silent.

I can't comprehend thinking in another language and I speak sign language. Very interesting man.

I tend to think, now I think about it, mostly in words with a few images or short 'films' when trying to actively visualise something. I'll 'think' a sentence in fullbefore I type it or say it. On the other hand, specificmemories tend to be in 3rd person snapshots that I can replay on demand, and 'view' from various angles/at various speeds, but never change what happens.

On the subject of thinking of 'nothing', I've found a good alternative is thinking of one trivial thing to the exclusion of more demanding thoughts. A good one is repeating a mantra involving shapes over and over, and visualising the shape as you say it. So you think 'a point on a line on a circle on a point on a line on a circle...' And picture these shapes forming as you think the words. Numbers are another good one, find something to do with them and just repeat it (eg. Count to 12, then 11, then 10 ect then start again).

Probably like the guy in this movie lol

 Paradigm wrote:
I tend to think, now I think about it, mostly in words with a few images or short 'films' when trying to actively visualise something. I'll 'think' a sentence in fullbefore I type it or say it. On the other hand, specificmemories tend to be in 3rd person snapshots that I can replay on demand, and 'view' from various angles/at various speeds, but never change what happens.

On the subject of thinking of 'nothing', I've found a good alternative is thinking of one trivial thing to the exclusion of more demanding thoughts. A good one is repeating a mantra involving shapes over and over, and visualising the shape as you say it. So you think 'a point on a line on a circle on a point on a line on a circle...' And picture these shapes forming as you think the words. Numbers are another good one, find something to do with them and just repeat it (eg. Count to 12, then 11, then 10 ect then start again).

You say now you think about it. Does this mean it's something you too assumed everyone was the same in?

There is a method I was taught, where I think of a pizza and smell it/touch it in my mind. Then I have to make it sit above my lap. I then have to think in 3rd person and draw a line from the back of my head down to the center of the pizza. It works sometimes but it makes my head a little buzzy, but it works well for my friend. I have yet to find something close that allows me to think of nothing. Another friend found that listening to rain music helps but it doesn't do it for me either. It sounds really weird but it kinda works so I dont know.

I think a lot in images and / or diagrams, as in a sentence is more like a flow chart and I tend to remember things more in the form of physical / visible objects.

 Swastakowey wrote:

You say now you think about it. Does this mean it's something you too assumed everyone was the same in?

Not necessarily, I just never really considered how I thought until actually asked. I've always noticed some parts of it, like being able to replay certain memories in perfect detail in 3rd person, but not really thought about the overall pattern.

Another one is that I can think at different 'speeds'. If I think of a sentence, but am thinking rather than saying, I'll think it twice; once almost instantaneously and once act speaking speed, actively forming the words rather than just thinking them.

I have 2 ways of thinking.

The "serious" business is words, diagrams, phrases or still pictures like thinking about where I should be, etc. As a programmer I need to think how this piece of code is going to interact with what other piece of code and I've discovered it's nearly impossible for me to do it in my head, I have to draw. Professionally I think mostly by drawing. When it's time to code, I just think about the "phrases" to type.
When I'm analysing or searching for an answer, it's as if I'm having a dialogue with myself inside my head.

When it comes to languages, I'll think in either Portuguese or English. Depends on the situation. If I'm programming, it will always be English, daily life stuff, Portuguese. I'll think in Japanese only when I'm studying it or in my 2nd way of thinking:

My second way of thinking is when my imagination runs free. Ever since I can remember I always imagine crazy situations, stories, scenarios and if it includes me I'll always think of myself as an actor in there. Every time I'm imagining what I'd do or say if situation X happened, I'll think as if I'm an actor in the movie.
Heck, when I remember situations that did happen, I sometimes think like that too.

When it comes to memory, it's funny how selective mine is. I'll remember things related to gaming and universes I love for the longest time, but stuff related to work vanishes so quickly. My memory for that is horrible, that's why when I'm at work I'm always taking notes and typing stuff down in word files.

(edit, this is such a strange thing to talk about, I'm not even sure if what I said made any sense )

I try not to, but it's generally with words outside of creative writing, where it's usually more cinematic.

 TheDraconicLord wrote:

When it comes to memory, it's funny how selective mine is. I'll remember things related to gaming and universes I love for the longest time, but stuff related to work vanishes so quickly. My memory for that is horrible, that's why when I'm at work I'm always taking notes and typing stuff down in word files.

I'm similar, in that if I am interested in something I'll remember it almost perfectly (I can memorise most of a codex after just one read, play whole games with no books whatsoever, quote films/books line for line, tell you about a historical event a month after watching a documentary on it), but if it's something dull like a pouring tea or moving something from one place to another I'll forget just walking between rooms.

I would say that my memory is like a sieve, but it would be an insult to sieves. I'd also like to say that the majority of the information I manage to retain is useful or important; unfortunately, I cannot.

My memory is actually pretty good, excluding faces and names. I once took part in a memory-related study, and could tell the instructor Id had this version of the test before, roughly a month earlier. And theyre not easy to recognise, really. Maps in general are extremely easy to remember as well.
Ive also noticed the third person memories when it come to autobiographical stuff though.

Most of my thought processing and memory is through mental images and pattern matching rather than sequential words or variables.

For example, when I count, I don't look at 3 objects and count sequentially "1, 2, 3...".

Instead I have images in my brain that denote that "3" looks like:

*
*
*

or

***

or

*
* *

or

* *
*

And if any of the above patterns match what I'm seeing visually then I know it's "3". Same for all the other single digit numbers, I have all their patterns stored in my head and I count by matching the pattern to what I'm seeing.

But, there are still differences between how I process things through images with how my wife does the same.

For example, when I navigate, I'm transposing what I'm seeing visually to a mental image of a top down map. I have a good sense of North and I just keep going directionally towards where I've mentally placed my destination in relation to where I've mentally placed my current location on said mental top down map.

Whereas when my wife navigates, she is directly matching what she sees visually to her previous memory in an eidetic fashion. As in, when she saw the red house, she always turns left, etc.

Like the OP I also sometimes disassociate and 'view myself like through a movie'. But it is usually 'at will' rather than all the time. Usually when I'm like playing piano or doing something while simultaneously thinking about some thing else.

 Swastakowey wrote:

You will not believe how much I would love to simply not think. Trying to sleep is a real issue because of the noise of my thoughts I guess, would be nice to just be silent.

The good news there is that this probably means you are quite intelligent.... I've read numerous articles that show people with higher IQs tend to have issues falling asleep.


Personally, I guess the visualization that I would use for how I think would be that my skull is like "Grand Central Station" where hundreds of trains go in and out every day, each track holding a different thought type. But within each "type" of thought, there are many compartments which are more like filing cabinets or "people" sitting in the various cars. Sometimes a person who bought a ticket for 3rd class tries to go to first class (random thoughts popping up when I dont want/need them but are tengentially related to what I'm currently in active thought about) And these trains tend to be longer or shorter depending on the depth of knowledge of the subject.

For instance, my "baseball train" is much, much longer than my "biology train" because I'm not a biologist, nor am I studying to become one. My "history train" keeps adding more and more cars to it, as I continue to study the subject, etc.

But, like a CCTV system or something, I can pretty much at will, change what "track" I'm viewing/ thinking about

I definitely think in words, not pictures. My thoughts are like a big mess of Russian, Dutch, Frisian, German and English words. Language does funny things to your thoughts.
I think mostly in English while at the computer, but off the computer it is a hybrid Russian/Frisian/Dutch (those are my native languages) with random concepts in German coming up every now and then. I think language has a big influence on the way people think, especially considering some languages have words for concepts etc. that do not exist in other languages.

My thoughts mostly tend to be very random, unless I am working really concentrated on something (which is never for long) mostly they just flutter from one subject to a completely different random subject.
This sums it up pretty well I guess: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AttentionDeficitOohShiny (I probably have some form of ADHD I guess)

I think like I am in a conversation with... I don't know, my subconsciousness? I mull over the options I have, hear the points and counterpoints I come up with and come to the most logical conclusion I can think of. My memory can also be pretty selective in what it chooses to remember. I can remember minute details of my last Pathfinder game but damn me if I can remember how to prepare solutions for my Biology test.

I think by talking to myself. Some are worried about it, thinkingt im crazy, but it typically is just weird innocent

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:


The good news there is that this probably means you are quite intelligent.... I've read numerous articles that show people with higher IQs tend to have issues falling asleep.

Correlation =/= causation though. You could have issues with falling asleep because youre intelligent, or for any other reason (stress, depression, anxiety, whatever). Doesnt really mean much, really.

I think by talking to myself. Some are worried about it, thinkingt im crazy, but it typically is just weird innocent

Im kinda the same, cant beat a good hour walk thrashing out some ideas with oneself

 Tyr13 wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:


The good news there is that this probably means you are quite intelligent.... I've read numerous articles that show people with higher IQs tend to have issues falling asleep.

Correlation =/= causation though. You could have issues with falling asleep because youre intelligent, or for any other reason (stress, depression, anxiety, whatever). Doesnt really mean much, really.

No I am very smart, I absorb the world around me as I see it. I am like the janitor that does complex math questions after hours. I am like those hackers who hack banks for money. I just don't try hard enough and end up seeming normal /s.

Nah in all seriousness I am pretty normal I think. I don't think there is a decent method of measuring intelligence anyway. Some of the dumbest (assumed) people have blown me away with their knowledge on a topic.

I am like those hackers who hack banks for money.

PM my bank details to you so?

Why hack banks when you can hack people?

Not literally of course but with regards to social engineering.

 Ratius wrote:

I think by talking to myself. Some are worried about it, thinkingt im crazy, but it typically is just weird innocent

Im kinda the same, cant beat a good hour walk thrashing out some ideas with oneself

and sometimes you need to talk ago the only sane person around

 Swastakowey wrote:

 Tyr13 wrote:
I tend to think with words. Like BeAfraid, the language can vary (currently Im thinking in english, for instance, usually I think in german, but it varies.). Unlike OP, thinking nothing is quite easy. I just dont say anything in my head. Images dont usually feature in my thought processes, but if Im planning to build something, for instance, or want to remember a face, an image, anything visual, I tend to do so. Often animated and in 3D.

Its definitely a weird topic to talk about though. Its kind of hard to imagine that not everyone thinks in the same ways you do, though the topic has come up with a friend, who thought in ways similar to the OP. Kind of interesting, really.

You will not believe how much I would love to simply not think. Trying to sleep is a real issue because of the noise of my thoughts I guess, would be nice to just be silent.

I can't comprehend thinking in another language and I speak sign language. Very interesting man.

This is basically the goal of various contemplative practices, or meditative states.

It is why they tend to teach "Mantras" in some forms of meditation.

The simple repetition of a pattern eventually disintegrates into "Nothing."

At least that is the goal.

It has shown to have incredible cognitive benefits for those who have dedicated the time to learning it (it is a skill, like most else, that must be practiced in order to become good at doing).

We have put all kinds of Zen Masters into MRI, ƒMRI, MEG, PET, and other forms of scanners to watch their brain while they meditate and you see very freaky things (from no activation, to uniform low-level activation, to global high-activation).

These different activation states seem to correspond to different "Zen States" (to use one set of terminology for meditative or contemplative arts).

MB


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 KiloFiX wrote:
Most of my thought processing and memory is through mental images and pattern matching rather than sequential words or variables.

That isn't really "Thought" then.

In order for the images to have any meaning, they must be identified through an intentional process. Our brains just don't work by identifying things purely by images. The images are associated with THING which MEAN SOMETHING.

Odds are likely you are imagining part of your mental process (because in EVERY instance where we have had someone claim this, that they "think in images," when we whack them into an ƒMRI, and watch what happens when we tell them "Think of something how you described it: without words." Sure enough, their left lateral Temporal Lobes light up like a spotlight, and the anterior Occipital to ventral pathway is lit up - indicating that ALL of their language centers are activated). They are certainly seeing images (as the anterior to ventral pathway indicates), but they are immediately associating those images with words.

The only people we have seen who DON'T light up their language centers are Zen Monks, or others who have spent decades in a contemplative art. HOW they manage to do this is one of the mysteries we are trying to unravel in the Cognitive Sciences (obviously by learning to meditate - the question is: What the hell is going on?).

MB