What Do You See in Your Head?
It has come to my attention recently that not everyone visualises things in their head in the same way. I actually read an article about a woman who does not see images in her head at all, which got me thinking. So I talked to my husband about it.
Turns out we both have very different visualisations when we see things in our heads.
I have always been utterly crap at drawing from memory or drawing from something I have dreamed up, even though I would have no problem describing the thing I had dreamed up if I wanted it in a book. Turns out I can intellectualise what I want, but I don't think I'm actually seeing it in my head clearly.
It's like I recognise faces - I'm quite good at it when I see someone on TV or on the street (I can spot an actor under prosthetics easily just by the eyes), but if you ask me to describe them - nope, not got a clear image in my head at all. (At least not most of the time - occasionally things stick 😂).
And, for example, say I want a dragon. In my head I see a vague dragon. I know it's a dragon, it has four legs, wings and a head, it's reptilian, but I don't see any details until they become important to what I want to do with the dragon.
It's the same for people and places. If I'm planning a scene I vaguely see a person or people doing things, but I don't see faces or eye colour or hair colour or even what their wearing unless it is important to the moment. There's no clear visualisation in my head.
In fact, it's really hard for me to bring the mental image into sharp focus at all.
Turns out my husband is very good at visualising things. He can plan circuit boards or 3D models in his head before he puts them on paper. An idea which blows my mind, frankly.
So this got me to wondering - is one of us an outlier, or is the world just divided into different types of visualisers? Considering I see so many people drawing or sculpting from memory on Youtube, it makes me think. Hence to my question:
What do you see in your head when your visualise something. Do you see details, or vague shapes? Can you bring something into sharp focus in your mind and see it all?
I am dying to know. 😂💖
I see a lot in my head. When I write, I visualise it like a movie, and sometimes I struggle to find the words to describe what I see. I draw too, and am realy good at drawing from memory, so I guess I see and can retain detail. It is interesting how other people perceive things in their head.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what parts of our brains are working slightly differently? The human brain is a most amazing thing.
DeleteI see things in my head, sometimes like a running movie. I'm good at finding the pieces in jigsaw puzzles. Like you, I am not able to draw things from my mind. I never realized this before but I don't see them clearly enough, I guess. The whole movies can be going on behind my eyes, but I couldn't pull enough info out to draw it.
ReplyDeleteMy husband doesn't see anything in his head.
Yep, that sounds just like me - mini-movies and the odd still, but lacking in detail 💖
DeleteAphantasia - I discovered a friend of mine has that too. It was an article about that which first got me thinking about how different brains do things in different manners.