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Thinking In Pictures
...some renowned scientist speculated that humans had to develop language before they could develop tools. I thought this was ridiculous, and this article gave me the first inkling that my thought processes were truly different from those of many other people. When I invent things, I do not use language. Some other people think in vividly detailed pictures, but most think in a combination of words and vague, generalized pictures.
What she says about people remembering their breakfast table but not seeing it certainly applies to me. It sometimes appalls me how little I see, especially when doing familiar things or visiting familiar places. Unless something has changed dramatically, I only see it enough for it to register as the thing I’m looking for. I ran into an instance of this just the other day when looking at an early photograph of what was originally The White House department store here in San Francisco and is now the Banana Republic flagship store.
The upper floors of that building are now a parking garage and I assumed that had always been the case, as it would be challenging to remodel a department store into a garage. But I was wrong. The building was constructed just after the 1906 quake and fire and must have been remodeled later. The early photo clearly shows the main store entrance where the garage entrance on Grant street is today. Walking past the building yesterday -- as I do multiple times a week -- I noticed for the first time all the decorative details around, not the store entrances but, the garage entrance.
On the other hand, I do tend to visualize things -- especially when doing problem solving of the type Grandin is describing here. The difference, perhaps, is that I visualize what I think would be a good solution and only then try to find existing things that I could use for the purpose. This is why the hardware store staff and I have such mutually frustrating conversations, as I’m usually looking for things that don’t actually exist. It is also a struggle for me to visualize exactly how things will fit together and this frequently leads to an iterative process which I suspect Grandin could avoid.
...my mind constantly revises general concepts as I add new information to my memory library. It’s like getting a new version of software for the computer. My mind readily accepts the new “software,” though I have observed that some people often do not readily accept new information.
Preach!
Unlike those of most people, my thoughts move from video-like, specific images to generalizations and concepts. For example, my concept of dogs is inextricably linked to every dog I’ve ever known. It’s like I have a card catalog of dogs I have seen, complete with pictures, which continually grows as I add more example to my video library. If I think about Great Danes, the first memory that pops into my head is Dansk, the Great Dane owned by the headmaster at my high school...
P28 ...I take computer graphics I have seen on TV or in the movies and superimpose them in my memory. In my visual imagination the dip vat will appear in the kind of high-quality computer graphics shown on Star Trek. [Nerd!] I can then take a specific dip vat, such as the one at Red River, and redraw it on the computer screen in my mind. I can even duplicate the cartoonlike, three-dimensional skeletal image on the computer screen [I think she has in mind here something like a wire-frame drawing or animation] or imagine the dip vat as a videotape of the real thing.
I admit to really envying this ability. I can only experience this in dreams and it is often so wonderful that it wakes me up.
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P31 When I read, I translate written words into color movies or I simply store a photo of the written page to be read later. When I retrieve the material, I see a photocopy of the page in my imagination. I can then read it like a TelePrompTer... To pull information out of my memory, I have to replay the video. Pulling facts up quickly is sometimes difficult, because I have to play bits of different videos until I find the right tape. This takes time.
THIS is a link to an article by a guy who insists minds don't work this way. Proving once again that it's usually a mistake to assume you know how other people's minds work.
When I am unable to convert text to pictures, it is usually because the text has no concrete meaning. Some philosophy books [ha] and articles about the cattle futures market are simply incomprehensible...
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P41 [She talks about a chute and cattle “restrainer” she has designed to make a kosher slaughterhouse less cruel.] On the first day of operation at the plant, I was able [following hours of doing this in her imagination] to walk up to the chute and run it almost perfectly. It worked best when I operated the hydraulic levers unconsciously, like using my legs for walking. If I thought about the levers, I got all mixed up and pushed them the wrong way. I had to force myself to relax and just allow the restrainer to become part of my body, while completely forgetting about the levers. As each animal entered, I concentrated on moving the apparatus slowly and gently so as not to scare him. I watched his reactions so that I applied only enough pressure to hold him snugly. Excessive pressure would cause discomfort. If his ears were laid back against his head or he struggled, I knew I had squeezed him too hard. Animals are very sensitive to hydraulic equipment. They feel the smallest movement of the control levers.
Through the machine I reached out and held the animal. When I held his head in the yoke, I imagined placing my hands on his forehead and under his chin and gently easing him into position. Body boundaries seemed to disappear, and I had no awareness of pushing the levers. The rear pusher gate and head yoke became an extension of my hands.
...
This passage reminds me of Levin scything in Anna Karenina.
During this intense period of concentration I no longer heard noise from the plant machinery. I didn’t feel the sweltering Alabama summer heat, and everything seemed quiet and serene. It was almost a religious experience. It was my job to hold the animal gently, and it was the rabbi’s job to perform the final deed. I was able to look at each animal, to hold him gently and make him as comfortable as possible during the last moments of his life. I had participated in the ancient slaughter ritual the way it was supposed to be. A new door had been opened. It felt like walking on water.
I left out her use of actual, physical doors to mark important transitions in her life: from school to college, college to graduate school, etc.
Have I mention the TV show Glee before? I bet I have. It boils down to a collection of musical “covers” of popular songs from the past or present. Some of the covers are nearly as good as the originals. Some, especially when you combine them with the choreography, may be even better. Because they are popular songs, I hear them all the time at cafe’s and other public places that play music.
I bring this up because I now “see,” in my mind’s eye, the Glee performance of these songs when I hear the original version. The songs have become solidly associated in my mind, visually, with their Glee performances.
I am also just starting to read Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks and what he writes (p ix) makes me wonder about Grandin’s perception of music. Does she visualize music, too. Is her ability to “videotape” experience analogous to a composer’s ability to think music?
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