How do you think?

I definitely think in words - the only subjects I was ever really good at were languages -but I’ve often put that down to the fact that I’m utterly useless at art, whereas people who are good at it ‘see’ things in their heads much more than I do, and are able to transfer their inner visions on to paper.

You might be interested in googling Gardiner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. He describes how we think in different ways, possibly with a dominance.

I think visually and verbally, don't most people? If I think of a person or a place a vague mental image comes to mind or if I am talking or writing then I think in words.

I was a late reader and it took me a very long time to relate the marks on a page to actual words in my head and I still think verbally in terms of the sounds of the words rather than an image of the written word..

I think visually all the time-before I go shopping-for example I plan the route visually. Imagine washing the floor beforehand.
However, there is a downside,once I have imagined the task I feel that the job is done,do I really have to do it in reality?
Ugh, too tedious. This is especially true when imagining a walk.
Anyone else think like this?

I definitely think in words and I spell long words in my head a lot. The heat has made me forgetful well that’s what I’m blaming it on or DD2 is not clearly giving me my schedule for school holiday childcare😂

My dyslexic GD (12) thinks in images. That is why she struggles with words like 'the'. No appropriate image.

This is so interesting.

I don’t know which one I do, I’ve never noticed if I do one or the other consistently.

I do know I don’t think of myself as ‘I’ . It’s always ‘you’. Example you should get up and have a shower. What does that mean? Should I be worried I’m a psychopath or something?

Hope there’s a lot more answers.

Witzend

I definitely think in words - the only subjects I was ever really good at were languages -but I’ve often put that down to the fact that I’m utterly useless at art, whereas people who are good at it ‘see’ things in their heads much more than I do, and are able to transfer their inner visions on to paper.

Absolutely the same for me!

I think both visually and verbally. I cannot work out how you could only do one of them.

This is a very interesting thread. I think mainly in words. Images do pop into my mind if I’m thinking about people or places but I find it difficult to deliberately summon up an image. I’m hopeless at art etc.

I am neurodivergent and I do not think in words or pictures. I think in concepts.

I am unable to visualise. I can't do meditations which require me to "imagine a peaceful place/beautiful flower etc"
I also have a very poor visual memory - eg I've seen my daughter's car many times but couldn't tell you what colour it is. But I can remember conversations I've had word for word.

If I am looking for the coffee beans, I visually think of a red package in my head.

Aah eddiecat78 that’ll be me then. I can’t remember my daughters car make I know it’s not white or red. If asked to describe someone’s appearance …At a loss and asked if someone is good looking or not ditto…I only really notice stunning attractiveness or staggering unattractiveness🙃

I think in both words and pictures, depending on the subject matter.
Since animals don’t have the luxury of language I suppose that they picture things in their minds.

Whethertomorrow

This is so interesting.

I don’t know which one I do, I’ve never noticed if I do one or the other consistently.

I do know I don’t think of myself as ‘I’ . It’s always ‘you’. Example you should get up and have a shower. What does that mean? Should I be worried I’m a psychopath or something?

Hope there’s a lot more answers.

I say ‘ come on Oreo, get moving!’ In my head it’s either my name or ‘I’ never ‘you’.😁

I write and draw, so I probably think visually. Not that I have ever thought about it before now. A bit like breathing .

M0nica

I am neurodivergent and I do not think in words or pictures. I think in concepts.

I think that best describes how I think too. I’ve tried to identify how I decide to do something, and just then I remembered I had to close the shed door. It was neither words nor an image of the shed, and I think a concept is the best way to describe it.
I’m going to read Gardiner, as J52 suggested, as I’m finding this interesting.

We think using words , images, sensations, concepts. Thoughts occur to us all the time which we correct if we have moral compass or accept if we don't. Sometimes we daydream and can have visions, sometimes we sit down and think practically on purpose. Musical people get even more fun because they are genius ...then the physicists must be amazing in their own brains

then you have philosophers who ponder things without any success just a lot of theory

Actually NT or ND here does not mean much. We all think.
I personally thrive on ideas and reading....I can spend 1000 days alone in my own thinking fuelled by books, programs or memories....

And then I have this man colleague who bless him is very inoffensive but has 0 social filter, grew up in the Zulu cultures and basically tells everyone all single thought that comes to his mind.

I think in words, sentences. Not pictures. I can with an effort conjure up a picture but it doesn’t come naturally.

I hear myself think in an American accent!
Probably after bingeing on an American series. it is a very interesting subject. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I don't think we think in words. We think in concepts and put them into words later on. If we limited all thought to words we already know, how would anything ever have been invented? We would still be eating raw meat and dying of simple infections before we were 25.

Definitely words and imaginary conversations. Even here I will think ( sometimes even type out) responses never speaking or sending them. Just because they are ever changing. Pretty convinced I have some kind of adhd tendencies.