# Can you visualize? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 30, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457 "2012-04-30T23:33:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/1 "2012-04-30T23:33:24Z")
I have never been able to visualize. As in close my eyes and see a mental picture. I can describe to you what something or someone looks like, but I can’t close my eyes and “see” it. Everyone I ask claims to have this ability. Is there anyone else who can’t do this? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/2 "2012-04-30T23:42:07Z")
Yes, I used to be able to very well, with many details. Less now - I think partially because I don’t practice it as much. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/3 "2012-05-01T00:47:53Z")
I can’t visualize very well. People try to explain floor plans…how to tie knots…and so forth to me. And it just doesn’t work. People just don’t understand. It sucks. -D/a ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/4 "2012-05-01T01:25:31Z")
I can visualise \*things \*easily and in great detail. But if my boss is describing a process (e.g. pulling x data from y spreadsheet and making z reports based on outcomes) I need to be looking at the base data to make sense of what shes asking me to do with it. In DITNA’s example, I’d see the floor plan easily enough, but might struggle with the knot. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/5 "2012-05-01T02:17:00Z")
I think I can visualize mechanical things pretty well. I’m taking a class that’s building a robot and I designed the chassis on paper before it was built. (The guys who welded it together changed stuff and I still don’t know why. Maybe I can’t draw it as well as I can see it in my head.) I can recall faces, and even picture them, but I’d never be good at describing them (round, heart-shaped, wide-set eyes, that kind of thing). If I ever witness a crime, I could pick the guy out of a lineup, but I’d suck with the sketch artist. Also, don’t ask me how you’d look with different hair or glasses, or whatever. I can’t picture that until I actually see it. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/6 "2012-05-01T02:24:46Z")
Yes I can. So proficiently so that most people seem to have it in their head that I have a photographic memory. Which of course more of a misnomer for perfect recall, which I definitely do not have. But if you want to be literal, I suppose I do have a photographic memory, the photos just aren’t in high definition and the edges are kind of fuzzy. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/7 "2012-05-01T02:44:30Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > Yes I can. So proficiently so that most people seem to have it in their head that I have a photographic memory. Which of course more of a misnomer for perfect recall, which I definitely do not have. But if you want to be literal, I suppose I do have a photographic memory, the photos just aren’t in high definition and the edges are kind of fuzzy. 😛 The funny thing is I used to have more of a photographic memory/perfect recall/etc. I distinctly remember studying German in high school..I’d study the word list for vocabulary tests, but couldn’t remember everything. During the test, I’d remember what the page looked like, and “read” the words back so I could answer the questions. Now..not so much. I blame beer. -D/a ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/8 "2012-05-01T02:53:22Z")
Not very well at all. I don’t “see” anything when I read, either, but my dreams are vivid so apparently I’m capable of picturing things and just don’t while awake. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/9 "2012-05-01T03:33:45Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > I have never been able to visualize. As in close my eyes and see a mental picture. I can describe to you what something or someone looks like, but I can’t close my eyes and “see” it. Everyone I ask claims to have this ability. Is there anyone else who can’t do this? Wow. I didn’t know it was possible not to be able to visualize something. Now you’ve got me curious. If I say “close your eyes and picture a red car,” you are saying that you can’t call up a picture of a red car in your head? (Not a specific one that you recall in all particulars, just any old red car.) ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/10 "2012-05-01T04:11:09Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Not very well at all. I don’t “see” anything when I read, either, but my dreams are vivid so apparently I’m capable of picturing things and just don’t while awake. When I close my eyes and think of a rose I see - nothing. I have sometimes had the hypnowhatever they’re called images when nodding off, but they are very fleeting. But I’m with you on the vivid dream images. I’ve always been jealous of people who say they can do this. I can however play a song in my head much better, so I can sorta do it with hearing. Strange. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/11 "2012-05-01T15:35:58Z")
Very, very well. We use visualization as a teaching tool in the Taekwondo school to help with memorization and quality of technique. But I am a strong visualizer. When I read a book, I “see” the story happening as I read. ---
**Author:** ![Deegeea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Deegeea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deegeea)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/12 "2012-05-01T18:37:37Z")
My ability to visualize is intermittent. Sometimes I can and sometimes I can’t. Attempts with my eyes open only succeed when I put myself into a somewhat hypnotic state (easier than it sounds). Attempts with my eyes closed only work marginally better, unless I’m sleepy. I can also remember what things look like without visualizing them. It lets me answer questions about the appearance, and have a sort of spatial sense of their shape and parts, but it isn’t very much like actually seeing them; it’s a different mode of apperception, in the same way that feeling the object would be. It’s almost like I propriocept them, as externalized parts of myself… but not completely that either - just more akin to that than to seeing them with my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/13 "2012-05-01T21:39:14Z")
I can do it, don’t even need to close my eyes, can summon up whatever image I want to think about like an hallucination…especially when I’m reading a book, it’s almost like watching a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/14 "2012-05-01T21:43:44Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Wow. I didn’t know it was possible not to be able to visualize something. > > Now you’ve got me curious. If I say “close your eyes and picture a red car,” you are saying that you can’t call up a picture of a red car in your head? (Not a specific one that you recall in all particulars, just any old red car.) I can’t. I am thinking “red car”, and I know what a red car looks like, but I can’t _see_ it in my head. I tend to think more in words than pictures, and I always have. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/15 "2012-05-01T21:57:12Z")
I’m very good at it. I can look at a 2-D plan or map, imagine the whole thing in 3-D, spin it around, zoom in and out, and even place myself at any location inside the space and see what the whole thing would look like from that vantage point. It’s a handy skill to have. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/16 "2012-05-02T00:35:05Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > I can’t. > > I am thinking “red car”, and I know what a red car looks like, but I can’t _see_ it in my head. I tend to think more in words than pictures, and I always have. Same with me. Ironically, I’m watching at TV show about cars right now..and if I close my eyes, I still can’t really picture one. I can picture the concept of a car..it’s there, it just doesn’t have a specific form. -D/a ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/17 "2012-05-02T00:55:44Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > I can’t. > > I am thinking “red car”, and I know what a red car looks like, but I can’t _see_ it in my head. I tend to think more in words than pictures, and I always have. That’s a great way of putting it. I think in words too, always. Perhaps not thinking in pictures is what makes us unable to visualize. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/18 "2012-05-02T01:10:59Z")
I can imagine, but I cannot actually visualize. If I close my eyes, no matter how hard I try to call up a picture, I see nothing but darkness. It’s strange too that I’m a visual learner. It’s very hard to describe other than to say I can imagine something, but I don’t actually have pictures in my head. I do dream quite vividly though, and see them as I would see real life happening, but when trying to recall them, even if I remember it vividly, the images are extremely fleeting and vague, like they are just under the surface of a pond, but when I reach in to grab them I disturb the surface and they are gone. ---
**Author:** ![florez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@florez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/florez)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/19 "2012-05-02T02:39:26Z")
> [@Corcaigh](#): > > I can do it, don’t even need to close my eyes, can summon up whatever image I want to think about like an hallucination…especially when I’m reading a book, it’s almost like watching a movie. This is how it is for me, and I have always believed that everyone can visualize, so I am learning something new. I wonder if the people who do not visualize, could do it if they imagine themselves as a movie camera or projector, turning out images like on film, or is imagining also visualization? ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457/20 "2012-05-02T02:49:56Z")
> [@Hockey\_Monkey](#): > > I can imagine, but I cannot actually visualize. If I close my eyes, no matter how hard I try to call up a picture, I see nothing but darkness. It’s strange too that I’m a visual learner. It’s very hard to describe other than to say I can imagine something, but I don’t actually have pictures in my head. I’m a visualizer, it’s constant and just part of how I think. When a poster mentioned red car I instantly see a red car (corvette in this case) sitting in a driveway in a suburb on a sunny day with palm trees in the yard across the street, bushes separating the driveway from the yard next to it, etc. etc. (probably recalling something from Hollywood). Words are my problem, I can’t process them quickly and it’s difficult to extract them from my brain. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-visualize/620457.md?page=2)