Mind's Eye (etc?)

This is intended as a little exploration of how minds work.Now, I have what I think to be an exceptionally bad memory. I have a terrible time remembering names and faces, etc.The "minds eye" part:
The story goes, that some people have photographic memories. Well, so do I, but there's no film.I ask members - Can you close your eyes, think of something you have seen, and bring up a mental image? Do you have a "photograph in your head"? My understanding is that various people can do this, at least to some degree. I can not. I just have a dark screen.So, what's in your "minds eye"?Moose

Can you recreate a quality visual image in your mind, of something that you have seen? If you look at something, and then close your eyes, can you "still see it"?I, with very rare exceptions, can not at all.Moose

Well, I seem to be the polar opposite. What imagery I can think, seems to be limited to geometric descriptions - In essence, line drawings.I strongly suspect this lack of visual imagery relates to my poor verbal memory.Moose

I was a small part of the discussion of "perception of color" at the Truth is Relative topic. That reminded me of this topic, which may be the better place for such discussion.In re-reading this topic, I discovered a message I had not answered: What I dreamed and what I remember dreaming may be two different things. At this point all my recollections of dreams past are pretty much completely gone.My general impression is that I dream in vague soft focus black & white. Perhaps a fair share of the dreams are rather abstract. Sometimes I'll go for many days (weeks?) with no recollection of having had any dreams. I have heard that dreaming connects up to long term memory formation. Perhaps why I am memory deficient is that I'm also dream deficient. I certainly know a lot of trivial things, such as music factoids. But again, I'll mention that my memory seems to be generally poor, both short and longer term. I have a geology bachelors degree (completed in '83), but I suspect I now remember only a tiny fraction of what I was exposed to. Not really. I can sort of recreate fragments of certain favorite tunes.There were two college classes I had particularly hard times with. The first was historical geology (stratigraphy and structure). A lot of raw data memorization. I also had a terrible time with the second term of calculus. I just couldn't remember much of what came before, to build on. Now, I remember essentially nothing about calculus. To me, it was the greatest waste of time and money of my life.In the context of even "Great Debates" I'm involved in - I find I really have to go back and reread upthread a lot. Heck, even in preparing this message, what I just wrote at the top is pretty vague.Moose

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Professor, geology, Whatsamatta U
Evolution - Changes in the environment, caused by the interactions of the components of the environment. "Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will piss on your computer." - Bruce Graham

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"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." - John Kenneth Galbraith

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"Nixon was a professional politician, and I despised everything he stood for ” but if he were running for president this year against the evil Bush-Cheney gang, I would happily vote for him." - Hunter S. Thompson

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"I know a little about a lot of things, and a lot about a few things, but I'm highly ignorant about everything." - Moose

Look Deep Into the Mind's Eye

quote:

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One day in 2005, a retired building surveyor in Edinburgh visited his doctor with a strange complaint: His mind’s eye had suddenly gone blind.

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The surveyor, referred to as MX by his doctors, was 65 at the time. He had always felt that he possessed an exceptional talent for picturing things in his mind. The skill had come in handy in his job, allowing MX to recall the fine details of the buildings he surveyed. Just before drifting off to sleep, he enjoyed running through recent events as if he were watching a movie. He could picture his family, his friends, and even characters in the books he read.

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Then these images all vanished. The change happened shortly after MX went to a hospital to have his blocked coronary arteries treated. As a cardiologist snaked a tube into the arteries and cleared out the obstructions, MX felt a reverberation in his head and a tingling in his left arm. He didn’t think to mention it to his doctors at the time. But four days later he realized that when he closed his eyes, all was darkness

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More at the cite.Quoting my message 1: I do occasionally have "mind's eye" images, but they seem to be pretty rare and quite brief. Also, such seem to be random events and not something I can "do on command".Moose

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Professor, geology, Whatsamatta U
Evolution - Changes in the environment, caused by the interactions of the components of the environment.

​

"Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will piss on your computer." - Bruce Graham

​

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." - John Kenneth Galbraith

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"Yesterday on Fox News, commentator Glenn Beck said that he believes President Obama is a racist. To be fair, every time you watch Glenn Beck, it does get a little easier to hate white people." - Conan O'Brien

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"I know a little about a lot of things, and a lot about a few things, but I'm highly ignorant about everything." - Moose

I randomly encountered this. Now I realize that there is a lot of things aphantasia on Youtube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa84hA3OsHUIn reviewing messages early in this topic, there seems to be a more than expected number of posters that have aphantasia.MooseEdited by Minnemooseus, : Embed video.