Do you "see" or "hear" when you think and/or dream?

I began a conversation with someone the other day about "Thinking", photographic memories and dreaming. This conversation sparked some very curious questions.

I have always assumed that we all thought the same way, or remembered things the same way, but I have found that not everyone "see"s their thoughts.

Think of the number 3 (THREE).

Did you "see" the number three, a picture of a number three, a spelling of the number three, or nothing at all?

When I think of the number 3, I see an actual number in my head as if it were on a projection screen. I can rotate this 3, while I am thinking of it, change it's color, change it's style, etc... The same with words.

Think of the word "Garden". What did you "see", If you saw anything at all?

I can see the word printed out in my head, and again I can "see" any changes in my head. I can also imagine a picture of a garden.

The person with whom I started this conversation with, does not "see" anything in their head, at all. When asked the same questions above, they replied, "I know what the number three looks like, I just can't see anything in my head."

As the conversation continued, they elaborated with "If I close my eyes, sometimes I can see blurry images, but if I get distracted or open my eyes, they are gone."

I thought maybe they didn't understand what I meant by "See"ing in their head, so I tried a different technique, by using the word "imagine". I asked them to "imagine" a sign (that we were passing) to fall over in their head, could they "imagine" that? The answer was know, they know what a sign falling over looks like, but could not imagine it, or "see" it in their head. At this point, we realized we "thought" differently.

I have a bit of a photographic memory, and can almost always find lost objects by recalling a "memory" of what the room last looked liked.

While the person I was talking to, found lost things by guessing where the last place was, and going to check if it is there. (I believe they may use an automated memory from the body for locating items.)

We then got on the subject of dreaming. When I dream, I "hear" the people in my dream as well as "see" them, as if I were "watching" and "listening" to a full color, surround sound movie.

The other party agreed to being able to "see" their dreams, WHEN they dreamed. They did not dream very often and they can not recall them easily. Their dreams are also "grayish".

I would love to read about how you "see", "think" and dream? Is it similar to the way I (or the other party) see, think and dream?

Or, do you have a different way completely?

reply to post by NaeBabii


I don't think in terms of visualization. I think in terms of "impressions" - emotional parameters that define what something means to me. Being an '11', however, I have a more 3D-ish depth to my parameters. Someone thinks of a tree as a tall plant. I think of a tree as a lower vibrational form that balances singularity with unity and has perfected the art of compassionate survival. And that's just one "level" of impression that I give to a tree. Everything, in my mind, is like an onion - lots of layers, but only the relevant data is actually processed. Like the title and synopsis of a book...if I'm interested, I'll take the title and synopsis of the various elements in my environment, but I don't take the time to consciously observe the story I am capable of discerning unless my interest dictates that I do so.

I hope that makes sense.

I find myself similar to you in description of images within the mind when it comes to numbers, also familiar voices and sounds. One aspect of it though I choose to share with really no one in my personal life is that if focused enough in the right way one can achieve a bit of overlay with a edited version of what one see's.

The best example I can think to give is being tired on a freeway at night and having a faint green bracketed HUD almost there moving with the road and guiding me, just at the back of perception to help focus. I don't share it for good reason as it just sounds weird no matter how I put it.

Intresting subject !

I also have photographic memory, i would rather call selective one. For example in history essays i remembered exact pharases and even page number of the history books i referred to so i ended up with a test with my history teacher to proving i was not cheating. But sometimes when im in my thoughts and im eating sandwitch i can end up putting butter in the freezer instead of fridge and totally forget where i put it.

In dreams i mostly hear telepathically like i know what they are saying, but sometimes i actually hear but those words what i hear are short ones like interjections or short sentences. When telepathically heard are more explaining.

I see, I feel, i hear, i taste, i smell and i sense.

In my dreams I see in color, hear and sometimes feel touch or emotions.

I picture most things in my head, I day dream pretty much none stop all day lol, I can loose 20 minutes just sitting there imaining scenarios and it just builds into a little movie

reply to post by NaeBabii


Congratulations...You're normal !

At least I think you are, I see things the way you do.

The number three I saw as a bubble written "3" when you said garden I saw a well kept stately lawn, with bushes, and flowers beds framing the perimeter.

When I dream, I dream in colour, and even feel emotions like fear etc...

It's like when you are reading a book, as the words are read, an image unfolds in your mind of what you are reading, the stage is set, and the characters are in play.

I will even go one step further (andthis is totally unrelated) from time to time, just before I fall asleep, I can see images of faces belonging to people I have never met, just for a moment, and sometimes I hear snippets of conversation, as though I am hearing it through my ears, but there is no-one there but me.

reply to post by Idonthaveabeard
When someone told me they had a dream in color, I thought what the heck? Everyone of my dreams is in color, I can smell, touch, and hear things as you normally would. I notice incredible details like the dew on the grass, an airplane flying overhead ect... I guess some people dream in black and white only? That must suck. Also op, I can "see" numbers or objects in my head and make changes just as you can. I didn't know that was not normal. Weird.

reply to post by NaeBabii

...Maybe the person you were talking to about this was not "normal".

I experience what you and the other do...

reply to post by VikingWarlord


Thats exactly like i do, i think you are normal

Seeing black and white or greyscale feels very unnormal to me. Its our brains what processes the data and its takes data from what we experience awake.. black and white world its weird.. and spooky

reply to post by dollukka
That's what I thought, but I now have met a couple people that only seldomly dream in color. Do most people dream in color, or gray scale? that would make a good poll question. What would cause that anyways I wonder? Just talked to 3 people in my house, 1 dreams in color, 1 mostly grayscale, 1 doesn't remember them at all.

My wife and I just discussed whether or not we were capable of turning off our interior
dialogue at will....I can't....and then I log in and see this post.

I see like you do. The number 3 is seen as a number and I also hear the sound. I can manipulate
the image at will also--change its orientation, color and size etc.

My dreams mimic real-life. There are sights and sounds and smells and internal dialogue.

This is a great thread IMO....can I add the question; Can you turn off your internal dialogue to it?

I experimented and found I can only shut my brain's big noisy mouth up while listening to or playing music.
Playing the piano for pleasure (not songs) works best.

Anyway, like your thread...

reply to post by VikingWarlord


Something is blocking it, there can be many reasons. It could be medication or stress...sleep apnea. Dreaming is our way to reset and be well.

You should do the poll im intrested of results

All of my dreams are as are real, textually speaking, as real life is. Sights, sounds, smells, colors, touch. All exactly as my waking state. The only real difference is in dreams I seem to lack context. For example, I might dream that I'm in a place I've never been, with people I've never met, doing things I never do... but in the dream I never stop to say "None of this is right". I simple am "in" the dream and totally immersed.

Regarding internal visualization, I believe I have a photographic memory, as I can close my eyes and see either things from the past, or imaginary things, as clearly as if I were watching a television or movie. The caveat is that the past memories are not exacting and I am aware that my mind is manufacturing varying degrees of the detail. If I think of people I once knew, for instance, their faces are exact - but I am fairly sure my mind is filling in their clothing and the background.

As for numbers? That's really complicated. In the case of the number three, I close my eyes and see what I can only describe as a translucent, 3D outline of the numeral "3" - and behind it a sort of mosaic of associations with the number. In the case of "3" it seems that many of them have religious underpinnings, I see a "1" kind of fluttering in front of the 3D "3" - denoting 13, I would think... and I see my father and grandfather, as I happen to share their name, and am, thus, a "III" or "third". The final thing on the surface of the mosaic is a pie chart showing exactly 1/3rd colored red against a white background.

Having said all that... I am different, and have the diagnoses to prove it!

~Heff

reply to post by dollukka
I've only started 1 thread, I'll leave that to the resident "professionals" if they so desire. I am now very interested in this subject, thanks OP! I think you are on to something with the "something blocks it", wonder what that is.

reply to post by NaeBabii


This is fascinating to me, because I had a mild OCD when I was a teen and had a need to find the middle of a word, and I would picture the word in my mind. It would be a black space with the word hanging there.

And when you mention seeing a sign fall over, I actually picture a white sign post at the edge of the road, in front of a house, with long grass growing up all around it and the sign falling over. But, interestingly, even though my brain has obviously added details to that to flesh out the image in my mind, such as the grass and house (why did my brain create these aspects when all I needed to think of was a sign falling?) my brain didn't feel the need to show me what was on the sign!

This is incredibly interesting, and I can't imagine not thinking in imagery the way I do.

I actually recall someone telling me years ago, when I was studying art, that I problem solve in imagery, and that therefore reading maps, schematics, sketches and planning on paper are my skills. Whereas other might respond more to instructions or language.

This was said to me in relation to art. My father was an artist, and my mother was creative too in different ways. I grew up to be an artist and can visualize an image on canvas and then work to create it.

Perhaps this is what makes a person more artistically capable than others? For instance, I am rubbish when it comes to mathematics, but with art and language I am considered somewhat accomplished. I can't help but think that use of the imagination rather than logic might be the explanation for this.

Also, I think it would be really interesting to see the results of what others imagine when instructed to picture something in their mind - without influencing each other. For instance, I saw a white sign surrounded by long green grass and with an old house in the background, with the sign falling over to the left. And I didn't see anything on the sign. But it makes me wonder what everyone else sees when they imagine that sign falling over...
Do they pick out details like that? Do they elaborate on the scene? Is there anything that is common throughout?

Excellent thread!

reply to post by detachedindividual
I imagined a neon sign for a motel or something at the coast falling in high winds, then once it struck the ground, the tubes shattering all over the place.

I would love to read about how you "see", "think" and dream? Is it similar to the way I (or the other party) see, think and dream?

Hello,

Love the Topic!

Yes, i "see" things, for example with the numbers, i usually see a clock or digital display (or just a symbolic number shape)..and when you wrote garden immediately "saw" a green, lush garden with trees in it.

When I dream, it's a 100% experience like another reality. It's like asking...you were in Italy last week...how did it feel to you? There is no difference, even more so with lucid dreaming/OBE...it involves all senses, color etc.

Here is an even more interesting remark/question:

When i "hear" sounds in real life, i actually also "see" shapes and colors, although sometimes very abstract.

Originally posted by VikingWarlord
reply to post by dollukka

 

That's what I thought, but I now have met a couple people that only seldomly dream in color. Do most people dream in color, or gray scale? that would make a good poll question. What would cause that anyways I wonder? Just talked to 3 people in my house, 1 dreams in color, 1 mostly grayscale, 1 doesn't remember them at all.

edit on 10/16/12 by VikingWarlord because: (no reason given)

I always dream in colour. I see, feel, talk... dreaming is, to me, not that far from reality when it comes to perceptions, in fact I have been able to wake myself from bad dreams since I was a teenager.

It's a very strange feeling, but although I'm not a lucid dreamer, I have had the ability to wake myself up when I need to. And in recent years I have been able to control things more. For instance, I get the sense that I am in a dream, and can change or control the way the narrative goes, but not the experiences. Does that make sense?

So, I can make a decision in a dream, and change something more to my liking, but there are still things that are beyond my control. It's almost lucid dreaming, but not.

Originally posted by VikingWarlord
reply to post by detachedindividual

 

I imagined a neon sign for a motel or something at the coast falling in high winds, then once it struck the ground, the tubes shattering all over the place.

That's interesting. I wonder what it is that creates such disparate images for two people. Obviously there would have to be some historical frame of reference, perhaps we base these images on personal experiences, or fears?

For instance, my sign seems to suggest decay, like the house is old, in a run down part of a town where the grass is left to grow long and the wood is all weathered... so my sign fell through disrepair and neglect.

But yours is a more violent image, with the sign being forced to fall in a more dramatic way. Presumably the sign is rather large, creating a more cinematic visualization?

This is funny, I wonder what it says about us? My imagination created a small white and weathered sign falling over when no one would care, and yours created a more dramatic and violent demise for the sign with shattering glass.

reply to post by detachedindividual
I have a feeling a whole new field of psychology has just been discovered. What does the sign say about you?