Penny for Your Thoughts

Okay, I have a question: How do you think? Is it a conversation with yourself? Do you see pictures? Is it a mix?

A while ago, I was talking to Roomie and somehow we got on the topic of thoughts. She mentioned that all her thinking is auditory, rather than visual. Just mental conversations. No pictures unless she really focuses on it.

If you listen really closely, you may hear the sound of my mind being blown.

My thought process is very auditory, but there are always visuals involved. I can't separate the two. It’s like I have a constantly running movie screen in my head and I’m providing the audio commentary. I see what I’m thinking about and then I have a dialogue about it. (I say dialogue, rather than monologue, ‘cause I don’t always agree with myself. So, there’s the inevitable arguing. And the sulking and gloating of the losing and winning sides. It’s a mess.)

This is the way I’ve always thought. I’ve mentioned my affection for Homeward Bound before. When I was a kid I went through a period where I would watch it over and over again, back to back. At bedtime, I would shut my eyes super tightly and will myself to rewind the movie in my head so I could watch it again as I slept. I can’t tell you whether or not this endeavor was successful, but I definitely remember the effort that was put into it. And as I sit here writing this, I see scenes from that movie. So, something definitely stuck.

I never really gave a lot of thought to the different ways people might think, but now I’m all sorts of interested. I asked some more of my friends. One said she was, much like Roomie, a primarily auditory thinker, but could bring up pictures if she put in the effort. Another said that when she’s just thinking, it’s all audio and only one voice (weird). However if she’s trying to remember something or figure out a problem, then it’s visual – so much so, that she needs to write it all down before she can make sense of it. And the last said, and I quote, “Visualized text/photos with hyperlinked video clips. Apparently I think like a web page or digital edition magazine.” Now I don’t know if that’s actually true, but how awesome would it be if it were?

And how about all of you? What’s on your mind grapes?