Do you have a "mind's eye"?

[CurlewKate]

I was just listening to a podcast where someone said they have no mind's eye- they can't visualise things in their heads. Apparently, some people can visualise something in colour and 3d, some in colour and 2d, some in black and white 2d, some just as a hazy image and some not at all-no image at all, just words. I realise that now I can't think about which I might be....I THINK I'm 3d colour, but I don't know! You?

I'm amazed people can't 'see' stuff. If there is someone talking on the radio I can immediately 'see' the person who matches the voice, age, clothes, looks, etc. otherwise I can't listen to them.
My mind doesn't stop, always have multiple threads going on in there in full technicolour.
I think DP may not have this as we do argue sometimes over possible scenarios that might happen and he thinks I'm a complete lunatic.

I do have a 'mind's eye' and it's 3D and colour. But I'm very verbal and I tend to articulate things in my head in words more than actively try to visualise them. I can do both easily, either separately at the same time, but I would say the words dominate.

However, I also have very vivid dreams and quite severe hypnagogic hallucinations. And I also have a weird thing where very vivid and surreal, often grotesque, images flash into my head from absolutely nowhere. They're usually of people's faces.

For me I look into the distance to see dates along a sort of train track. With December furthest away.

I immediately had the Fire Brigade out as well. But I envisaged Steve Martin in a film where he was a firefighter rescuing a cat in a tree so my visuals don't always come from pure imagination.

I have an inner monologue which doesn't stop but I can't 'see' anything.

If I try really hard, I could see little bits but never a full picture and never for long as I get a headache

For example the pink cat in a tree. I know what a tree, a cat and pink is but I can only see one at a time for a split second before my head hurts.

I can't picture something I have never seen before and I can only see something that I have see before if I break it down so a face, I would have to think of an eye then a nose but I couldn't put them together

I find that I'm not interested in things like space which baffles my husband but I cant imagine it so I can't understand it.

Full-on 3D, technicolour with inner monologue here!
I couldn’t believe when my son said he can’t see things in his head and he doesn’t understand how I can!! Human body is amazing

@Ilovelowry @Nandia24 what you're describing is spatial synaesthesia. I have this too.

www.synesthesiatest.org/blog/spatial-sequence-synesthesia

Roxanne!

Yes, I visualise everything all the time.

When I’m reading I create the room in my head, so I’m always annoyed when the author adds in a staircase or something halfway through the book, or someone reaches out to hold hands but from the placement of the furniture in an earlier description they would need 10ft arms to do that - it gets on my wick.

Anne McCaffery describes the saddles for dragon riding, and people are always turning around and chatting. Which I can’t quite get to work from her description without dislocating something.

Busy internal monologue too. Also soundtrack running.

My head is like a multiplex cinema sometimes. It’s very busy and has too much junk food.

I only learned about aphantasia last year - a HUGE gap in my knowledge as when I'm teaching I often ask people to visualise, picture, imagine ... I had no idea some can't. I'm sorry I asked people to something they couldn't do. So now I invite them as an alternative to think up words to describe a situation.

I have ADHD and my brain is full of everything all the time. It’s never quiet or empty, just constantly going. I think I have other peoples missing ‘eyes’ 😂

I’ve found if I listen to an audiobook that has a calm voice or a podcast with the same it helps me to switch off my internal chatter and helps me get to sleep.

I see everything in my head, in colour and 3D. It's like a constant film. I also have a constant inner monologue that can wander off anywhere! I thought everyone did, so it's a surprise to learn that's not the case.

I don’t have ADHD, but I have a similar mind’s eye, inner monologue and vivid dreams. I discovered recently that my brother doesn’t have a mind’s eye at all! He says he can’t even picture his wife’s face when she’s not there - it’s just a blank. I can’t conceive of not being able to visualise things in my head!

Thanks @BeaAndBen! I couldn't think of the name of the film.

I've just imagined various pink cats (stripy, spotty, pale or bright) in a few different trees.
I've just got one to stalk a bird along a branch, fall off (serve it right) and stalk away pretending to retain its dignity though it had undergone a colour change.

I have CPTSD and I have a good minds eye.

Thank you - I've never heard of this and find it hard to explain to people

Nope. I can't visualise anything. Not even my children and certainly not pink cats up trees!

I was told by a teacher that she could "see" words in her mind if asked to spell them which seems like witchcraft to me.

I am however good at learning languages and recalling lyrics, poems etc.

No I don't. And this thread has been interesting because when my kids/husband and I talk about it, I can only explain to them that I 'know' a thing but I can't 'see' it which they just can't understand.
But I see others on here have the same feeling.
I only discovered that other people do see images a few years ago and initially it made me very upset. I can't picture my children or remember them as babies by seeing them, once I realised other people could it broke my heart a little.
When I paint for example, I 'know' what I want, I paint and then it either looks right, or it doesn't. If it doesn't look right then I change a thing, and repeat until it does.
I don't picture it in my head.
It's actually hard to explain, or have the opposite explained because it is a completely alien concept.

I think we were at the front of the "minds eye" queue. Probably chatting and picked up a few extra.

@Bentoforthehorde can you picture a photograph of your child if it isn't in front of you?

Eg. There's a photo of DD on her first birthday and she is now 17, so I've looked at the photo a lot.

Without seeing the photo, I can tell you what she is wearing and what her hairclip looks like, the chair she is sitting on and the room she is in.

Can you do that?

I thought everyone could 'see' stuff in their head. Until I started working with people who can't envisage anything at all unless it is right there on a piece of paper in front of them.

As soon as I start talking to someone about eg their home I start to picture what it's like from their description. Right down to the layout etc.

I also have an active internal monologue.

The firefighters are EXTREMELY attractive and it’s a very, very hot summers day. So they start to take off their uniform and cool off using the hoses.

I’ll leave the sex of the firefighters up to you depending on your preference!

You’re welcome.

Nothing at all. I can't even picture my late parents, although i do occassionally dream and think I do that normally. I didn't realise it was strange until trying to learn relaxation techniques...picture your happy place...

I never worried about being asked to picture things because I thought it was some kind of metaphor, I had no idea people were actually looking at pictures in their heads.
So don't beat yourself up about it too much.