voices and images.
How do you perceive your thoughts?
- Thread starter Nerys Ghemor
- Start date
For me, it's a series of impressions that is sort of similar to a combination of images and words. For the words, it's not really text, and it's not really speech; it's thought. (It's closer to speech than text, but it's different in a way I'm at a loss to describe.) It's not always clear-cut, though. It ends up being mostly non-linguistic impressions that I have to translate into English if I want to communicate with other people. It can be rather frustrating at times, honestly. Talking it out with people helps me gel my thoughts.
So you'd say the translation of your thoughts into coherent language is a conscious process?
For me that only seems to be the case when what comes into my head is convoluted enough that I am not sure others will understand it; the text is normally just THERE, in a flash like an IM popping up already complete for you to read. It's more of an editing process for me than a composition process, to get my thoughts into passable language (i.e. it'll sound good out of my mouth as well as look good on paper).
For me that only seems to be the case when what comes into my head is convoluted enough that I am not sure others will understand it; the text is normally just THERE, in a flash like an IM popping up already complete for you to read. It's more of an editing process for me than a composition process, to get my thoughts into passable language (i.e. it'll sound good out of my mouth as well as look good on paper).
I have almost no visual component to my thought processes at all. I can never visualise what people look like - to the point that I always worry that I won't recognise someone when I'm meeting them, even my identical twin sister... 
Mostly spoken words. When I speak I almost always see what I am saying as written words before I say them, seemingly to verify the spelling in my head. When I write I almost always think about it in terms of sounds before I write. So, sometimes when I talk my pronunciation becomes more phonetic, and when I write I write the wrong word that sounds like the right word (managed it ok on that one though!). When I read, I see images of what I am reading, and absorb what is written in terms of emotion.
Also, going back to what was said earlier I almost always have to translate what I'm thinking to language..
Also, going back to what was said earlier I almost always have to translate what I'm thinking to language..
On the contrary, I have problems integrating feelings in my thinking. It's not like I don't have them, but they rarely enter my thinking pattern. I suppose I think in mathematical terms: tackling the main problem, breaking it down to smaller problems, solve them one by one, compose them into the main solution, explore different alternatives, compare them, weight for any specific issue, get the final answer. Then, maybe, I will remember that I'm shit scared about it and panic.
I had people asking me to plan a dinner or a movie, I did, looking for show times, making routes with public transport system, or organize cars to pick up everyone, and then remember that I don't want to see that movie or I don't care about seeing some people at the dinner.
I'm sorry but I have to confirm your fear. It sounds very weird.
On the contrary, I have problems integrating feelings in my thinking. It's not like I don't have them, but they rarely enter my thinking pattern. I suppose I think in mathematical terms: tackling the main problem, breaking it down to smaller problems, solve them one by one, compose them into the main solution, explore different alternatives, compare them, weight for any specific issue, get the final answer. Then, maybe, I will remember that I'm shit scared about it and panic.
I had people asking me to plan a dinner or a movie, I did, looking for show times, making routes with public transport system, or organize cars to pick up everyone, and then remember that I don't want to see that movie or I don't care about seeing some people at the dinner.
Maybe you're just excessively helpful?I'm sorry but I have to confirm your fear. It sounds very weird.
I thought it would.
Not really, just a compulsive planner!
Spoken words. Normally a generic voice, but it's easy for me to think a familiar voice, e.g. Trek characters. I don't think very visually, e.g. I don't mentally picture scenes when reading a book.
It's semi-conscious. The more complex the thought, the more conscious the translation is. Stuff like "I'm hungry. I could really go for a banana right now." doesn't need conscious translation, but something like an essay on legal theory would.
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
Uh, it's hard to decipher my rational of thoughts since it's a mixture of imagery, words, and memories.
I operate almost entirely on intuition. I just ... DO things. Then afterwards I percieve if they were right or wrong. For example, when I'm writing a post like this, I will sometimes write a sentence, then re-write it, then write it again, until I'm happy with the result.
If I need to plan something out, I will imagine different scenarios and which would seem most favorable. It's not really like pictures in my mind, it's more like putting my imaginary self into that situation then imagining how events would play out and how I would feel in that situation. It's ... more like constructing a narrative than building a diorama? If that makes any sense.
My memory seems closely tied to audio and visual cues. If I want to remember something for example some trivial item I need from the grocery store, I have to stay it out loud: "Remember to buy toilet paper". If I just "notice" it, I will immediately forget it. It's impossible for me to remember that I need toilet paper. It's easy for me to remember saying that I need toilet paper, however.
This makes me obnoxious with friends and family at times because I will remember their exact wording of certain idle things that they said and will sometimes construct elaborate hidden meanings that they never intended.
If I need to plan something out, I will imagine different scenarios and which would seem most favorable. It's not really like pictures in my mind, it's more like putting my imaginary self into that situation then imagining how events would play out and how I would feel in that situation. It's ... more like constructing a narrative than building a diorama? If that makes any sense.
My memory seems closely tied to audio and visual cues. If I want to remember something for example some trivial item I need from the grocery store, I have to stay it out loud: "Remember to buy toilet paper". If I just "notice" it, I will immediately forget it. It's impossible for me to remember that I need toilet paper. It's easy for me to remember saying that I need toilet paper, however.
This makes me obnoxious with friends and family at times because I will remember their exact wording of certain idle things that they said and will sometimes construct elaborate hidden meanings that they never intended.
I can relate to that.
My memory seems closely tied to audio and visual cues. If I want to remember something for example some trivial item I need from the grocery store, I have to stay it out loud: "Remember to buy toilet paper". If I just "notice" it, I will immediately forget it. It's impossible for me to remember that I need toilet paper. It's easy for me to remember saying that I need toilet paper, however.
This makes me obnoxious with friends and family at times because I will remember their exact wording of certain idle things that they said and will sometimes construct elaborate hidden meanings that they never intended.
But not to that
Vocal. I do a lot of talking!
Another thing about myself that I found was unusual (after telling other people about it) is that I almost always have music running through my head. The only time this is not the case is when I'm focused on doing something important, such as teaching a lesson.
I know how you feel about the music in your head. Sometimes I realize that I have been breathing the chorus. Not singing, but actually breathing it as if I were. This would explain my occasional dizzy spells.
J.
Do either of you wake up in the morning with a song already playing in your heads? I do. And sometimes I wake up and will find myself actually singing out loud before I am even really awake. I always think to myself "Is that the radio?" before I am cognitive enough to realize it is coming from me.
I can't even form a cogent thought first thing in the morning, much less sing. However, I do get songs stuck in my head easily, also as a result of random thoughts or things I see or read. A key word jumps out at me and I have a song in my head for the next three hours. The other morning I was on my way back to the office after stepping out to go to Starbucks, and a car came through the parking lot with its high beams on. My eyes can be sensitive at times, so it blinded me momentarily. I had "Blinded By The Light" by Mannfred Mann in my head for the next hour. After a few minutes I thought, "Where did that come from?" It took me several minutes to remember what caused it, because it didn't really register in my mind when it started - the song was just there.
If I want to remember something for example some trivial item I need from the grocery store, I have to stay it out loud: "Remember to buy toilet paper". If I just "notice" it, I will immediately forget it. It's impossible for me to remember that I need toilet paper. It's easy for me to remember saying that I need toilet paper, however.
That's weird - I'm the same way. If I need to run an errand, I have to think the words. Many's the time I've come home from work only to realize that I forgot to stop for groceries because I didn't "say" it in my mind.
Uh-huh. I remember whole conversations I had when I was 12 years old. Do you think I can remember what I had for dinner on Monday night? (I only remember what I had on Tuesday because I had leftovers tonight.
)
Mainly images and spoken words, usually my own.
I'm SO glad this happens to other people, too!
I thought maybe there was something wrong with me.(Well, actually there is; but that's a story for another time.)
Pretty much this. There's always a constant stream of spoken thought running through my head. I only get images when they briefly pop into and out of my head or I put a bit of effort into thinking about them. I don't remember ever thinking in text.
Also this.
By my spoken words, usually.
Mostly spoken words. I sometimes see images, but depending on the image, it takes a bit of effort. I also occasionally have songs in my head, and I might not have heard them for a while, but they're just going round and round until they start to annoy me.
Spoken words almost always haunt my mind through a constant stream of text, and when I try to actually think about a certain topic (because of having nothing to do), often I keep repeating the beginning words of the topic in my head until I give up.
Spoken words almost always haunt my mind through a constant stream of text, and when I try to actually think about a certain topic (because of having nothing to do), often I keep repeating the beginning words of the topic in my head until I give up.
Similar threads
