Pure Imagination

[textualdeviance]

Had quite a surprise earlier with a post talking about someone who apparently lacks the ability to visually imagine things. I'd never heard of such a thing before, and had in fact always assumed that everyone had the ability to "make movies" inside their heads like I do (waking or sleeping.) But I guess that's not the case.

This sort of matches up with a convo D and I had the other day about different learning and communication styles, and how I greatly prefer learning or having important conversations via text. Partly this is an ADD thing. When I'm interacting with someone in person or even just on the phone, there are a lot of other stimuli around dividing my attention, and I end up getting only about every third word. Lectures are always useless for me. But hand me a book or throw in a Powerpoint, and I'll have it memorized well enough to ace a test on it weeks later (I can actually still recall textbook pages I read in 5th grade. How's that for weird?)

I also have good taste and touch memory, too. I could describe for you exactly how my mother's potato salad tastes, or the precise feeling of the quilt I used to sleep under when I was 6.

What makes this even more odd is that I do have incredibly detailed audio memory but in only one circumstance: When there's music involved. I pick up new songs almost instantly, and can recite music-heavy movie or TV scenes almost verbatim after only a viewing or two. I can still sing about half of a song I only heard once in a concert 18 years ago. I think the reason this works when lectures or regular conversations don't is because the music keeps my attention from wavering. (It's the same reason why I get a lot of boring stuff at work done when I have Pandora playing.) I guess something about the part of my brain that processes rhythm and melody has to be active in order for me to retain the rest of what I'm hearing.

Anyway, I think all this is why I'm so comfortable writing and interacting online. My imagination is so vivid and detailed that I don't feel like I'm losing out if I don't have a visual reference. Other people who may not have such a detailed mind's eye, so to speak, may need to have all the extra stuff that comes with in-person communication or information transfer. I've known for a while that people have different learning styles and different methods to commit things to memory, but I guess I'd always assumed that visualization was part of that for everyone. Knowing that it's not--and that there are probably degrees of it, in any case--really changes how I think about interacting with other people.

I don't know how much better my mental movie ability is than most other people--maybe it's my superpower?--but it does explain why I often have disconnect with folks who might not "see" things the way I do.

Comments

[fififolle]

Wow. Your long term aspect of your memory is awesome. I have the ability to recall smells, images, touch, etc. but I'll be damned if my memory is actually generally quite poor. The Sunday chat today was a good example of that. I'm hopeless at recalling fics or episode moments :) On the other hand, I can re-read fics and books and still get a wonderful surprise at the end *g*
I think you're right about finding it hard to connect with people who have different abilities. Interesting, isn't it?

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

There are very few books, movies, etc. that I will consume more than once or twice, because I recall them so well.

On the other hand, some stuff that's really transcendant for me I gladly experience over and over again, even though I know it by heart. It becomes ritualistic, I suppose--comforting in its familiarity.

There are a few very rare things that I love so much I don't ever want to experience them again, though. I feel like it would cheapen my memory of the original experience to try to recapture it. Like I can't lose my Lost or BSG virginity over again. ;)

[van.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty similar. If I have the choice between watching a news article or reading a news article, I will almost always choose to read it, unless there's some very specific visual element involved. (i.e. I'd read about a new chemical scientific breakthrough vs watch a reporter talk about it, but I'd watch a video of "Lion adopts baby piglet!" or something.) I'm similar with music too because I will focus completely on the song and lyrics. If I don't, then I won't hear it at all and will remember nothing, but if I listen to music, that is all I do. Which is why I can't work with music on. I can drive and I can draw with it on, but I can't do anything involving reading/writing with lyrical music playing. I'll either start typing the lyrics, or stop doing my work to listen. It's also why I dislike audio dramas, etc., because they command too much of my attention. I can't put them on and just listen, it's too difficult for me and unenjoyable.

I can't have a TV on "in the background" either, because I will stop whatever it is I am doing and end up watching it, even if it's informericals or something I've seen a hundred times before. I'd rather work in silence. I have much better reading comprehension than I do visual as well. For instance, when someone tells me their name, I spell it out in my head and I'll almost always remember it if I do. If I don't spell it out in my head, or it's an unusual name that I can't guess the spelling of, I'll forget it. Which is another reason why online interaction is so great, because if someone says their name to me online, they'll spell it out. (So I'll remember it, even if I don't know how to pronounce it.)

I do know people who are exactly opposite than me--they're study or learn better with a song or TV playing in the background. I remember being in school and if we were "really good" the teacher would turn on the radio. Which made doing my work 100 times more difficult. It always felt like a punishment to me, ha. Especially if it was music I liked--because then I'd sit and listen to the music and be unable to concentrate on my work. I'm always wishing people would come out with transcripts of audio dramas so I can read them instead.

I think it's an introvert (me) vs extrovert thing really. I vastly prefer silence.

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

I definitely can't do music or other background stuff when I'm trying to write. I think there's something about the creative parts of my brain that need to have sole focus at those times.

But if I'm taking in information or doing something repetitive, having that white noise (so to speak) keeping my brain from wandering off because it's bored really helps.