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Fascinating article about visual imagination and recall
10 years ago
General
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34039054
I can honestly say that until reading this, it had never occurred to me that there was much difference in people's ability to visualise, but it looks like it ranges from "close my eyes and I might as well be there" to "nope, got nothing".
My experience is somewhere in the middle I guess. I can imagine myself standing in a familiar (or imaginary) place and identify the features in the surroundings, turn around to 'look' the other way, sense the breeze, feel the shapes and colours around me. I can imagine an object, then imagine it to be a different colour and understand that it is different; but none of it is "seeing" per se. My best description would be that my visual memory/imagination is like looking at smoke, shadow, and edges - through a tube. I can focus on a small detail and hold it in my consciousness, but at the expense of losing the rest of the image while I do. I have to zoom out and lose detail to see a wider scene.
Sound on the other hand... I can recall a familiar piece of music vividly, to the point I have sometimes not noticed that its in my head and gone hunting round my house to figure out where it's coming from O_o Someone says the words to familiar lyrics and the whole track is immediately in my head, all layers of vocals and instrumentation alike. Assuming I remember someone talking at all (I often don't listen), I remember the exact pacing and intonation they used. Maybe I should have been a musician instead of a software developer going-on artist...
Still, this doesn't change the fact that I enjoy drawing, or that I see improvements in my output over time, so wherever this article makes you realise you are on the scale, I strongly suggest not worrying about it :)
Although it does make me wonder if there are exercises or meditations that I could do to improve my visual recall. I honestly thought the phrase "photographic memory" was a euphemism, but if it's more literal then I'd give my right leg (not arm, I need that!) to get one...
I can honestly say that until reading this, it had never occurred to me that there was much difference in people's ability to visualise, but it looks like it ranges from "close my eyes and I might as well be there" to "nope, got nothing".
My experience is somewhere in the middle I guess. I can imagine myself standing in a familiar (or imaginary) place and identify the features in the surroundings, turn around to 'look' the other way, sense the breeze, feel the shapes and colours around me. I can imagine an object, then imagine it to be a different colour and understand that it is different; but none of it is "seeing" per se. My best description would be that my visual memory/imagination is like looking at smoke, shadow, and edges - through a tube. I can focus on a small detail and hold it in my consciousness, but at the expense of losing the rest of the image while I do. I have to zoom out and lose detail to see a wider scene.
Sound on the other hand... I can recall a familiar piece of music vividly, to the point I have sometimes not noticed that its in my head and gone hunting round my house to figure out where it's coming from O_o Someone says the words to familiar lyrics and the whole track is immediately in my head, all layers of vocals and instrumentation alike. Assuming I remember someone talking at all (I often don't listen), I remember the exact pacing and intonation they used. Maybe I should have been a musician instead of a software developer going-on artist...
Still, this doesn't change the fact that I enjoy drawing, or that I see improvements in my output over time, so wherever this article makes you realise you are on the scale, I strongly suggest not worrying about it :)
Although it does make me wonder if there are exercises or meditations that I could do to improve my visual recall. I honestly thought the phrase "photographic memory" was a euphemism, but if it's more literal then I'd give my right leg (not arm, I need that!) to get one...
That aside, the mystery of "what actually is a mental image" continues... I want to know if the "like watching a video" thing is trainable, and if so, how? That would be an epically useful skill to an artist... I clearly have *some* form of visual memory or I couldn't remember cool looking things and integrate them into my work, but I'm not sure I see pictures so much as I have the knowledge of once seeing pictures. Like a familiar room with my eyes shut; I can find the light switch, avoid the table, and open the fridge, but I don't "see" anything...
...this sort of question could quite possibly lead a man to madness - or enlightenment! I guess either I'll be the next Buddha or die trying...
One interesting test I've seen for visual thinking is to imagine a 3x3 grid, as if for tic tac toe. Now put the letters CAT in the top squares, DOG in the middle row, and EAT along the bottom. Fix that image in your mind until you feel it clearly. And focus on it.
Now read the word diagonally from top right to bottom left.
If you see it in your head as 'real as a photo' as some people say, then the answer should be almost immediate; in fact if you saw it on paper, you'd probably not have to hesitate at all. If they don't answer for several seconds, then there's a secondary process going on, likely relating to ad-hoc updating of their mental model based on a quick analysis of letter position - which may be entirely subconscious and they may not realise they're creating details only on-demand.
Which is not to say that highly visual imagination and recall is fictitious, but we do have a few tools to figure it out on a per-individual basis :)
Some are like me, and want as much description than possible to create the scene in their minds; I can just close my eyes and see the landscape and what is happening, others have a mind like a desert: even the best drawn picture won't evoke anything in them, and the best phrased description will not help them figure out how stuff looks in the game word.
The husband of a very dear friend of mine has even trouble figuiring out what's to like in RPGs, books or even games...
Humans are varied like that.
I think the article is badly worded, tbh. It gives the impression that visual recall/imagination is like having a video screen on the back of your eyelids, and I don't *think* that's the case at all, or at least, not to most people. To me, it would be more comparable to being in a dark, familiar room. I know where everything is, I can reach out and flick the light on, or pull back the bedsheets and get in, I know where my shoes are so I don't trip over them... I feel like it's an engagement of my brain's spatial processing without getting my visual cortex involved. On the edge of sleep there tends to be more leeway and I can wind up consciously interacting with imaginary things, but that's more like dreaming while half awake.
But it's such a subjective thing and the article makes no attempt to clarify its terminology :S
I believe the people without imagination sometimes comes because they are curious, but often they come because of some sort of peer pressure: their friends seems to have much fun in the game, so, surely, there must be something nice in the games. Plus, they'd be spending more time with their friends, so it's all good.
Except it's not sicne they never get into the game and spoils it for everyone.
As for the article, well, I guess it is different for everyone. I mean, I can easily put my brain in gear and have like a whole movie when I clsoe my eyes. I think it's clsoe to lucid dreaming: I can direct events in my dreams and imagination, and picture it down to the smallest detail. Or read a book or a story, then close my eyes and picture the whole scene like a still image, based on the description I've read, then animate it following the events in the story.
Still, sounds like a challenge, so I shall launch into a course of meditation and see if I can improve my internal visuals :)