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?

Very much so. It’s part of my job as someone who builds geological models to imagine what’s below the surface of the earth using the data available.

"Churchill sound"? Not getting that, despite a quick Google.

I can see everything very clearly, like a film. I have an inner monologue too. I love watching videos of this and people saying they don’t have a mind’s eye or inner monologue. It’s fascinating!

I have synesthesia too (grapheme-colour mostly, but also spatial and ticker-tape).

I have ADHD but absolutely no mind eye. I didn't realise how vividly people saw things until last year. I struggle to remember the faces of my children when I'm not with them. I do wonder if this makes me a bit more rubbish at recognising people.
I do have horrible hallucinations sometimes though which seems a bit unfair !

No, don't see a thing. I can obviously describe an apple as round, red, green, seeds but no picture conjures up. Didn't realise I was unusual until we were discussing it at work a couple of years ago. So I got to my mid 50's assuming it was a figure of speech not a real thing.

Oh, sorry - there was an advert in Britain, some time ago, for insurance - a bulldog called Churchill said "oh yes" in a deep voice!
😆

Yep, 3D and in colour. I found it useful when my Mum was in hospital with dementia and asked me to describe places. I can just think back to them and ‘walk’ round them and explore the rooms and outside. I realise I am describing memories, not how the place often is at the time but it helped Mum.

Yes, I can see 3d colour images vividly as if I was looking at them. I can imagine every detail. For example if you said to me think of a fish swimming, I could see the fish scales in fine detail, textures/overlapping, the lighting effects on the scales, fine waves in the ocean, vivid coral. I can also do this with certain memories. Dm cannot believe I remember the exact layout of my grandads house that we didn't visit much when I was a child.
My mind scares me sometimes. I also have an overactive mind, and vivid dreams sometimes. Not sure if there's a correlation.

Today I was 43 years old learning I had synethsesia 😂
I think I have it quite mildly but I see months, days and numbers in colour.
I remember this being more vivid when I was a child.
I thought everyone had this until today! I had heard about synesthesia before but thought it was more about smells and taste.
So yes I have quite a vivid "mind's eye"

Nothing at all for me. It's just black or shades of grey mainly, with no images, 2D or otherwise. And definitely no full colour 3D imagery going on.

It's only in recent years I realised that when people said they could 'see' it in their head that they could actually see a real image in front of them, behind their eye lid almost.

I still can't really imagine what that's like.

I thought everyone had this, and an inner monologue. I am flabbergasted!

I can't see any of it.
When I close my eyes the world goes blank, and black/grey.

Yes,I can see things in colour in 3D in my mind. I thought everyone could. My mind has been blown by the number of people who say they are unable to.

Whilst I can't see things I do have an inner monologue going on most of the time - and if I'm reading I can hear myself reading the words, despite not saying anything out loud.

Oh but that's so sad!

Fiction

Oh but that's so sad!

Most of the time, not really as I've never known any different.

It'd be nice to be able to miss distant family or those who have died. But photographs, videos and audio clips can fill those gaps.

Same here

BUT

If I stop and ask you for directions I absolutely can not remember or visualise what you're telling me and have to write that down

Me too- I had no idea this was a thing! Good point regarding memories. Can people not visualise everything they did even today or yesterday?
I can definitely ‘ see’ my whole day in general and recall specific moments ( probably not everything if I’ve been really busy) in detail.
If someone asked me if I did something in particular, I would’ see’ myself do it in my head to recall.

I can picture something in colour - not sure if it's 3D - but it's very fleeting, as if someone waved a postcard in front of my eyes then asked me what I'd seen rather than a fixed image I can 'look' at. I can't quite catch a hold of it I but I have a sense of it.

Someone mentioned the inner monologue. I definitely have that. All day long. Dialogue too where I'm both Magnus Magnusson AND the contestant🤣 I can't switch it off. Ever. Audiobooks through headphones are my direct line to sanity!

Years ago, I was at an aerobics class and we were winding down and doing stretches at the end. The instructor asked us to clear our minds and my head shot up and I looked at my friend and said 'Eh?' She couldn't stop laughing, but I was serious!

Nah, they don't go together. My current favourite author, Mark Lawrence, writes fantasy novels with tons of imaginative detail. He's completely aphantasic.

I 'see' spoken words but not the noises off and other sound effects, which some do. That must be fun (and a bit irritating at times). As my ME-CFS progresses, my speech processing gets worse and now I need subtitles to watch any but the most clearly enunciated British TV. It really jolts me when auto-generated subtitles get it wrong, so they don't match the words my mind's showing.

Edit: I misread your quote! Don't know whether high visual goes with low verbal but Mark Lawrence would be an example of that, not a disproof. Mine's more verbal but I have a visual imagination too - much less vivid than some. I've got a fantastic memory for colours, though: wonder if that's a different thing?

How do people recall memories if they have no mind's eye? For me it's like a film playing with gaps...

3d & colour with strong inner monologue. Visual learner. Suspected ASD - ADHD

Full colour and 3D with busy inner monologue.
I can “remember” colours s well I can colour match without a swatch or the item with me.
I can remember the exact shade of orange my DSis wore at my wedding 25yrs ago.
I have a very good visual memory that is great for navigating in the daylight but pretty crap at night when I can’t see landmarks and features.

Oh yes I can remember the layout of houses I visited as a child. And not very often.
I haven't seen my cousins childhood home since I was 12 and I'm 47 now. But I can tell you where the sofa was, my cousins bedroom, her bed, the washing machine, the kitchen, and bizarrely there is a route from her house to the canal where we used to play.

And my grandmother's flat who died when I was 10.

This really is the most fantastic thread!