Mind's Eye (etc?)

I read somewhere that the majority of people use visual images in their mental images. Of the rest of the people, a majority used sound as the major component of their mental images.Of the tiny remnant that is left, a majority of these think in terms of movement. Whatever that means, I think that I fit into that third category. I rarely think visually -- I have a hard time describing people, and even though I claim to have vivid memories of scenes in movies I find that I rarely remember what the scenes looked like. Even when I read novels I rarely have a visual picture of the scene in my head, although in some way I have vivid "picture" of the action. And I never create visual images of the characters.I think that is why I tend to be somewhat good at abstract mathematics. Much of mathematics is too abstract to have a pictorial representation, but since that is not the way I concieve of the world I can deal with it. It does make it hard teaching mathematics to my students, sometimes. Most of my students are visual learners, and they need pictures and diagrams to help them understand what is happening. They constantly have to remind me to give them some picture -- and since pictures like that are not the way that I am thinking of the concept it usually takes me two or three tries before I finally come up with one that works for them. Weird.

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I tried creating a wood cabin with a workbench outside.

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That's interesting. I immediately had the scene of the wood cabin, and I could even tell you where the doors, windows, and work bench are. Yet I have to concentrate to get an actual visual image in my head, and even then it's not too distinct and kind of changes.On the other hand, like you, I find it easier to make visual images if I keep my eyes open.

Hello, Tony.It is rather hard to describe how I think about things. I think that I may be a kinesthetic thinker, but I'm not sure. I don't know how one tests for this. As I said, I do have very imprecise, fuzzy, unstable visual images, and perhaps this is really what I am using in some fashion to create my "images" -- perhaps I really am a visual thinker after all.But I tend to get a more vivid feel for the motion and position of objects, without really getting a good visual look at them. When I read a book, I rarely get a good visual image of the scenes -- in fact, I find long passages with detailed descriptions of the scenery and character rather boring unless it has a direct relevance to how the characters are acting and feeling.Yet, I feel that I have very strong "image" (I don't know of a better word) of the scenes, especially when there is some action going on.Movies are similar. If you ask me to describe a scene in a movie, I can give a pretty good description of what went on, but if pressed to describe what the scene looked like, it would probably take me longer, and I probably couldn't be definite.The same thing when I think about abstract mathematics. Students usual want to see pictures and diagrams, and it often takes me several tries to get a good diagram that helps the students -- it's just not how I think about the concepts. I do a lot of analysis (limits and stuff, for those who have taken calculus), and when I'm figuring things out I get this feeling that these things kind of move around, sort of like this. I really can't explain it.As to what really is going on inside my mind, you will have to talk with an expert. I really don't know what is happening, or how it all works -- I just know what it feels like.Here is something weird -- to this day, I have trouble remembering which side is left and which side is right. I don't know why, just something I have trouble with. Students think it's funny when I say "to the left" or "to the right" and point in the wrong direction. I distinctly remember when my mom first taught me left from right. I was sitting on her lap in a particular chair on the living room. For years and years, I could not remember left from right unless I imagined I was sitting in that chair. Now here's the weird part: if, for some reason, in my imagination, the chair was facing a certain direction, I would have to physically turn so that I was facing the same direction as the chair in order to remember left from right. How's that for funny?

Let's see, my most easily imagined sensations:1. action, motion, spatial relationships
2. auditory
3. visual
4. tactile(actually, visual and tactile are kind of tied here)I don't tend to have any strong "images" of taste or smell -- I can recognize tastes and smells once they occur in real life, and I can remember the "adjectives" that describe them (yummy, salty, acrid, etc.) but I don't have a good memory for the sensations themselves.Also, I don't claim this is accurate. Like I said before, if an expert were to test me somehow, she might well come to the conclusion that visual images play a much greater role in my thinking than I realize -- I am only going by how it appears to me.An interesting side-note: although I do have fairly clear "images" of sound in my head, the sound of voices and so forth, it seems to be more like murmering -- I don't have exact, clear words in my head, even in the cases where I can recite, exactly, word-for-word some conversation or speech.Perhaps not related, I find that when I am trying to clarify my position and formulate an argument, like when I am trying to figure out how to respond to a post on this board, I often have to physically stop myself from muttering to myself audibly -- especially when I am walking along a public street.