Can You Picture It? - Page 2

On January 26 2013 03:16 Shiragaku wrote:
Gee, I wonder how playing RPGs such as Dungeons and Dragons must feel like.

So quick question, do you have any fantasies at all? When I was younger, and even still to some extent to this day, I would fantasize about a specific scenario through masturbation, I would often imagine scenarios visually with my eyes closed, and God knows how I would enjoy any books at all without being able to visualize in such a manner.

And speaking of books, I finished Salaried Masses and Worker's Council, sorry for not being on Skype as of late

On January 26 2013 03:34 SamsungStar wrote:


Woah, that's pretty cool. You used to masturbate to D&D? Which was more your thing? The dwarves or the illithids? Although, I find it mildly disturbing that the only way you could enjoy books was through sexual means. They're still pretty good if you're not jacking off, IMHO.

On January 25 2013 18:42 HotShizz wrote:


Hmm. my question is what does this mean for your dreams? Do you "see" things in your dreams? I mean, it is utilizing the same idea of images without sight. I personally remember very very few dreams, i go to sleep then wake up like only a second had passed 99% of the time, but when I do remember my dreams they are very vivid.

When I am imagining something, its never a crystal clear image in my mind, which I assume is normal. If i think about an apple, i can imagine all of the parts, the colors, the form, but I don't have any kind of apple stamped on the back of my eyelids, its like a hint of the image, and everything that i associate with it. when i read about a character, i get an idea of what they look like (depending on the author) but they don't become some full color living person in my mind.

Personally, I think the world is just too busy.

On January 25 2013 18:50 Tobberoth wrote:
Wait, what? You literally don't imagine an apple when you're told to think about one? That blows my mind. Obviously it's not like I have a photograph of an apple in my mind, but I definitely see it. It's more like squinting. Focus on parts of it and they become detailed.

I can't even imagine how you can think about anything without having any form of "visual sense" of it, what's left?

On January 25 2013 18:56 felisconcolori wrote:
Interesting. Makes me wonder, do you think in words or images? By which I mean, if you were to think about doing something, is it a visual process (video like) or is it more of an articulated thought? (Thinking in language, as if you were talking.)

On January 25 2013 18:57 Tobberoth wrote:
So can you even draw? I mean, let's say you're in an empty room and you're told to draw an apple... how can you do that if you can't visualize objects mentally?

On January 25 2013 19:43 YoucriedWolf wrote:
I'm sorry you can't imagine apples.
Reminded me a bit of the section in the book "Blink" where they observe the autistic person observe a play and the gestures and expressions the actors convey are vital to the dialouge but instead you'd find the autist looking around at the scenery and not understanding what was going on.

On January 25 2013 20:30 Tobberoth wrote:

Sure, but you have to imagine the apple to break it up, unless you have an apple in front of you.

On January 25 2013 21:24 Capped wrote:
this is the difference between people who like reading books and cant.

I can visualise things with ease given a description (or if its basic enough like an apple) so i love to read, i have a friend who cant do this at all and hates reading.

Its an interesting subject

On January 25 2013 22:36 wo1fwood wrote:
I think this kind of mental capacity would require an ounce of creativity on the individuals part, in that you would have to make creative decisions to recreate that image in your head based upon the information that you've been given. As someone who's always been a strong visual learner and a composer I have no problem constructing things solely in my head, so, yes I can picture it.

On January 25 2013 23:45 SamsungStar wrote:
Woah, yeah, that's really strange. I couldn't imagine that. Just as an exercise, I conjured up the word apple in my head and was immediately hit with four different senses. I saw an apple, and then a half apple (skinned). At the same time, I remembered the smell and taste of the apple and then the crunchy texture as I bit into it and a tiny trickle of apple juice streamed into my mouth. And then I got really hungry and wanted to eat an apple.

I couldn't for the life of me imagine what it would be like to just hear apple and not think anything other than the word apple. I mean, I can even visualize the letters of the word apple as big 3-D objects with a crushed velvet texture.

On January 26 2013 00:22 JieXian wrote:
However it feels really cool when I get to hear some songs out of nowhere (which started before I started learning music) but I usually forget how it went once I wake up =(

On January 26 2013 03:16 Shiragaku wrote:
Gee, I wonder how playing RPGs such as Dungeons and Dragons must feel like.

So quick question, do you have any fantasies at all? When I was younger, and even still to some extent to this day, I would fantasize about a specific scenario through masturbation, I would often imagine scenarios visually with my eyes closed, and God knows how I would enjoy any books at all without being able to visualize in such a manner.

And speaking of books, I finished Salaried Masses and Worker's Council, sorry for not being on Skype as of late :

On January 26 2013 03:34 SamsungStar wrote:


Woah, that's pretty cool. You used to masturbate to D&D? Which was more your thing? The dwarves or the illithids? Although, I find it mildly disturbing that the only way you could enjoy books was through sexual means. They're still pretty good if you're not jacking off, IMHO.

On January 26 2013 04:20 farvacola wrote:
I'm not sure at what age it started, but I have a unique way of passing the time which revolves around my ability to "see" things in my minds eye. I spent a great deal of my childhood a passenger, a watcher and imaginer of that which passes by. Perhaps it had something to do with my unchecked juvenile ADHD, but I could not help but construct an imagistic journey of sorts in my mind as my father took me along to work. I was drawing maps you see, maps of the places I've been, or perhaps the better way to put it would be to say that I drew maps of the places I've been through. In any case, I can tell you that I've quite a few maps stored away up here, and whenever I need to waste some time, I'll think of a starting point, be it The East of Chicago pizza joint down the street from where I used to live in Toledo, OH or the infamous Breezewood Pennsylvania Turnpike rest stop we'd always pass on the way to visit my grandparents in Virginia, and I'll "go for a ride" as I like to call it, attempting to fill in as many visual details as possible as the road stretches onward, as though I were still a passenger in a car, simply along for the ride. If I am feeling particularly lucid, I can draw up some fairly extensive maps, with my record iirc being around the 500 miles or so between Toledo, OH and Reston, VA I dreamt up one day while, surprise surprise, visiting my father's work.

If I could not "go for a ride" in my head I'm sure I'd come up with some sort of different imagination strategy for passing the time, but what's funny is that I am not really a visual learner. I require utterances, usually of the verbal kind, for real learning progress, and the visualization aspect is more icing rather than cake; a game that can add a bit of spice to an otherwise potentially drab line of inquiry.

Can you hear melody and harmony, Sam? I only ask because suddenly your enjoyment of stuff like downtown music is beginning to make a lot more sense, as I firmly believe that aural and visual imagination can be quite related.

In any case, "gorgeous brunette, pouty lips, intense eyes." Nothin? Sucks for you dude

On January 26 2013 05:09 Hesmyrr wrote:
What, this is so mind-blowing that I am wondering if there is something I misunderstand. You can actually see in detail, (and in case of SamsungStar) sense the object you are thinking about? Does it work like hallucination, so after you close your eyes and think about "apple" you can actually see an image of apple, with the colours and all?

So what I'm saying is, when I wrote dream diaries several years ago so I could recall them, there are lot of dreams I experienced in first person perspective which I can recall - "see" - some of them in vivid colourful detail. However that is completely different from imagining something from scratch during the waking state; rudimentary sketches are the best I can manage. So how detailed is this visual perception, and if it's life-like what is distinction from it and hallucination?

Edit: I re-read, and I know for certain that I am not in OP's camp since he cannot seem to think (or recall?) in terms of image at all, but I might as well keep this post up since I am genuinely curious how good people are at imagining visual details.

On January 26 2013 05:09 Hesmyrr wrote:
What, this is so mind-blowing that I am wondering if there is something I misunderstand. You can actually see in detail, (and in case of SamsungStar) sense the object you are thinking about? Does it work like hallucination, so after you close your eyes and think about "apple" you can actually see an image of apple, with the colours and all?

So what I'm saying is, when I wrote dream diaries several years ago so I could recall them, there are lot of dreams I experienced in first person perspective which I can recall - "see" - some of them in vivid colourful detail. However that is completely different from imagining something from scratch during the waking state; rudimentary sketches are the best I can manage. So how detailed is this visual perception, and if it's life-like what is distinction from it and hallucination?

Edit: I re-read, and I know for certain that I am not in OP's camp since he cannot seem to think (or recall?) in terms of image at all, and that I overestimated some of the responses. but I might as well keep this post up since I am genuinely curious how good people are at imagining visual details.