What the eye sees and the mind interprets, or imagines, are very interesting differences among humans. I had a friend who, when asked "What color is that house?" would respond "It's white. On this side."

Do they listen to the Hello Internet Podcast? Because they discussed this recently.

quote:

Originally posted by Doc H.:
What the eye sees and the mind interprets, or imagines, are very interesting differences among humans. I had a friend who, when asked "What color is that house?" would respond "It's white. On this side."

It's a take on a remark in a Robert A. Heinlein book "Beyond This Horizon". The incident is when the hero is conversing with a person called a "True Witness". He asks her if she can see what color the house on a hill is painted and she answers "It's white on this side." (A "True Witness" only states what it knows to be true, and it could not see the other side of the house.)

flashguy

Like several of the others, put me in the #1 group. I've always been able to daydream and see things in my mind. Reading books always caused me to picture the action taking place on the page; from sci-fi stories to Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series.

I just always thought that this was how everyone was. How interesting!

This is most fascinating. I too envisioned a big, red juicy apple similar to the one in the first image. While somewhat surprising, there are folks who are unable to visualize images in their mind's eye. Similarly, there are individuals who lack even basic mechanical aptitude. For those of us who like to tinker, it's easy to forget there are others who lack the mechanical gene.

#1 is what I have in mind when I think of apples.

My sister-in-law says she cannot visualize things in her head. Quizzed, for example, about how she imagined a “cheat sheet” she might have for a test, imagining looking at the upper left hand corner, she denied any ability to do such a thing.
She could not visualize images of things she read in a book.
One of her daughters claims she is also like this.

I can see a Granny Smith still on the tree with vibrant leaves and the dew glistening in the sunrise. A slight breeze is blowing the branch back and forth just so...

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
I see a red apple and I want to be black.

I could not foresee this thing happening.....

^^^

quote:

Originally posted by Mboroman:
Like several of the others, put me in the #1 group. I've always been able to daydream and see things in my mind. Reading books always caused me to picture the action taking place on the page; from sci-fi stories to Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series.

I just always thought that this was how everyone was. How interesting!

Yes.

And I not only see the characters, but often see them to the point of being "disappointment" in who is cast in the movie roll of the folks from books.

I recall, my greatest "mind character" being the perfect person cast for the film from a book when I saw the movie. It was "Arnie Cunningham". Keith Gordon was exactly the person that my mind created. It was a great moment.

I also "see" people in radio. Sean Hannity "looked" more like Conan O'Brien, so it was a bit of a shock when I saw him on TV years after hearing him as a fill in for Rush.

And I can see things like an engine in 3D while driving down the road, and "look inside" while it is running, rotate it, and such.

And I have great recall of most of my life, to the point that 50 years later, I and my older sister met in Wichita and I was able to take her in a rental car and drive to every house we lived in from the late fifties to the present day, and she was absolutely gobsmacked. There were two houses that were no longer there, my grandparents house was a vacent lot, but I could still "see the house and neighborhood" and pointed all of it out and then she was able to tell by looking at the surroundings that I was correct in the recall. The other house was a large parking lot for Beechcraft, and Central Ave had been rerouted, so I was having a real hard time with that because the area was so much changed, I kept trying to "place the house" off the lot, but it "would not settle". After driving around the area, I finally realized the parking lot I had stopped in and looking around "for the house" was the yard and "driveway" (dirt drive, back in those days).

And I also thought, for most of my life, everyone could do this. (My mother would tell me I was "imagining remembering things that never happened", and I always figured it was because a lot of those things were much unpleasant for her to want to remember, so it was her way of "deflecting".

My grandmother was just like me, sitting with her at 104 years old and hearing her tell of everything, and confirming the things I recalled, was pretty neat.

But, it is a cursed blessing, in some respects.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
But, it is a cursed blessing, in some respects.

That it is. I can remember it all on instant recall. Even the really bad stuff. My memories come complete with the correct lighting conditions of the event.

To combat that, I've learned to recall the really good stuff, or the really fun things I've invented for myself, like the sensation of running downhill off the porch of the house I lived in during my teens, and simply vaulting into the air and soaring like Icarus at about an hour to sunset, swooping low over the cornfields North of our house. Or the good and genuine stuff like sitting still in the rain, halfway up a tree, holding the '43 Winchester M1 I used to hunt with, the feel of it fresh again in my hands and forever locked in, waiting for a buck to wander by (he never does, I just sit and listen to the rain). Laying on Cocoa Beach, listening to the Atlantic roll in....

I wonder if this is part of why I can choose to fall asleep nearly anywhere, anytime, and my wife cannot. She rustles and shuffles around in bed for a good hour many nights before dropping off. Myself, I'm halfway to dream state before I've even settled because I've got a few dozen relaxing scenarios I can drop into at will, and then I'm just gone.

Monkey, my Pop-Pop and my older brother have the same ability to recall things from years ago, stories, conversations, describe homes etc...I can’t. I know it can be done, just that I don’t have that ability. Almost like elephant memory.

Those who say they are type 1 - when you say you see the apple (or whatever you're visualizing), is it actually a visual sensation?

Is it more of picture, video, or 3d rendering? Or is it something different?

I ask because if I close my eyes and try to visualize an apple, I just see the back of my eyelids.

That said, I do have the ability to wonder off into my thoughts - I can conceptualize things in my mind - but it isn't tied into any visual senses themselves, but almost at a lower level.

If I read a story, it plays out in my mind. My dreams are detailed ( much more vivid than my day dreams). I can recall / replay memories (or bits and pieces of scenes from movies), but again, it isn't visual - its more of a background feed (not sure how to explain it exactly).

No, it doesn't have anything to do with my physical eyes. It's like a mental picture in the middle of my forehead. I guess that's where they get the "third eye" that describes so-called clairvoyant ability.

1.

Also, in regards to books and visualizing the scenes, few movie adaptations have come nearly as close as what Peter Jackson did with LOTR. He obviously visualized it precisely as I do. It was stunning the first time I saw it.

The interesting question there is how many people had that same experience with those movies having previously read the books, and is that a byproduct of Tolkien's writing style?

I see whatever type of apple I am thinking of, be it red, yellow or green. Have never seen a gray apple, so how could I envision one?

I’m a 5. I can’t visualize shit.

quote:

Originally posted by wreckdiver:
I see whatever type of apple I am thinking of, be it red, yellow or green. Have never seen a gray apple, so how could I envision one?

I did black and white photography, and grew up on B&W TV, and I can actually "desaturate" an image, or "see" anything in B&W if I choose to do it on the fly.

And most of the visual stuff can be done at the "speed of thought", and pretty much instantaneous, like if someone asks you your name, you reply without giving it any thought, because the "lookup" is well pathed.

And I have focused on this more over the past few years when I started asking my daughters (who both have the same abilities) about their experiences.

Funny, is we all "think" the same way, and in many conversations, we sort of "tune in" like the BORG collective.

I have a hard time imagining not being able to "see things".

Laurel.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:

Yes.

And I not only see the characters, ...

But, it is a cursed blessing, in some respects.

I have both characteristics as well. In addition to visualization, I have a memory that takes me back to under age 3 on certain things. Like you, I have also been able to drive to childhood homes from memory, including the first home I lived in and moved away from at age 6. I agree that this kind of memory is a blessing and a bit of a curse at times.



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