Do you process words faster than images?

KCathy · Mar 29, 2009

When I flip through channels on the remote, I have to take a couple of seconds on each to be able to interpret what I'm seeing (1, 2, soap opera, 1, 2, Godfather III, 1, 2, ShamWow, 1, 2, Sleep Number bed, 1, 2, Monk rerun). My husband can fly through them without taking his finger off the remote.

Since last week, when my toddler cleverly hid the remote somewhere, I have to flip through 39 channels to get from Disney to the channel that shows the VCR output. I go through them so quickly that I have no idea what I'm looking at. When I flipped past a commercial for a TV movie, however, I was easily able to READ "Nora Roberts Midnight Bayou" in the split-second before the channel changed.

It got me thinking about how I don't "see" characters in books unless I see a movie based on the book first. I can remember that they're pale or redheads, but I don't see a pale redhead--just the words themselves. Maybe that's why I skip long descriptions. I don't want to work to imagine what I'm supposed to be seeing.

Is this a usual thing for people who like to work with words? Do you "see" images from what you're reading and writing, or just process them in words?

Pagey's_Girl · Mar 29, 2009

I'm the other way around - I see the scene playing out in my mind and then have to try to get it down in words. I have these very vivid pictures in my head of the characters, the settings, the pattern of the carpet on the floor (if there is a carpet at all.) I'm still learning to be selective about how much I describe.

Phoebe H · Mar 29, 2009

I'm *extremely* non-visual. I process words much better than pictures, and they are converted to voices when I do.

Someone asked me once if I dreamed in color or black and white, and it took me a while to realize that I do neither -- I dream in sounds. Mostly. My dreams are a lot like those Ken Burns documentaries, where you've got the still picture with narration behind it. The picture gives context, but all the sizzle is in the sound.

And yeah, that ends up making visual descriptions really hard to do. But on the other hand, my dialogue rocks.

Wayne K · Mar 29, 2009

It all depends on what I'm drinking.

Clair Dickson · Mar 29, 2009

I process words best. I think in sentences, rarely in images. When I'm imaging a scene, I kind of narrate it (but not a conscious thing) often times, right down to the lanague I would like to use.

I tend to put words to just about everything.

As for the TV, I find that now that I've grown used to the on-screen channel guide, I don't pay much attention to the images. I just read what it is and decide from that.

StephanieFox · Mar 29, 2009

I'm a word person, not a picture person. I'm also kinetic, so I tend to sense things with my body – my body placement within an environment is how I find my way around there. Second is sound. I think I find smell more important than pure pictures.

I went to a meditation class where the instructor wanted us to 'visualize', something I find difficult. I asked her about working through other senses and a bunch of people from the class chimed in trying to 'fix' me. Telling them that there was nothing wrong with me, I just processed the world a little differently, did no good. They went on for about 20 minutes wasting my time so I could become a visual, just like them.

Feh.

When I write, it's all about sound; I tell a story. The rhythm is also very important. Another writer mocked me about this, but it didn't bother me because I'm a better writer than she is. Ha! Ha! I think a log of writers are not visualizers.

semilargeintestine · Mar 29, 2009

Picture person, definitely. I always have pictures/movies and music running through my head.

Silver King · Mar 29, 2009

semilargeintestine said:
Picture person, definitely...

That's how I see words also. Some come fully realized as images while others are merely brush strokes on the canvas of imagination; and they all move forward like reels of film playing through my senses.

Cranky · Mar 29, 2009

I'm with the fish on this one.

I see things in my head as pictures...even when I see words, I visualize them on a page, as actual physical words written in my handwriting or whatever font it was written in.

Kind of weird, I suppose.

Gehanna · Mar 29, 2009

If the words are written then no, I do not process them faster than images. I am highly auditory. Sound is very important to me.

Sincerely,
Gehanna

Phoebe H · Mar 29, 2009

StephanieFox said:
I'm a word person, not a picture person. I'm also kinetic, so I tend to sense things with my body – my body placement within an environment is how I find my way around there.

Yes, exactly. I can walk through a dark room without stepping on anything that's been scattered on the floor. I just know where everything is and avoid it.

My desk looks like an absolute disaster -- but I can find any piece of paper I need with my eyes closed, by it's position from where I sit. But every time I clean my desk up I'm hunting for things for weeks.

Beach Bunny · Mar 29, 2009

It's like I have videotape running in my head. When I took tests back in high school, I would "replay" the lecture the teacher gave which had the answers to the questions. :Shrug:

Shadow_Ferret · Mar 30, 2009

KCathy said:
It got me thinking about how I don't "see" characters in books unless I see a movie based on the book first. I can remember that they're pale or redheads, but I don't see a pale redhead--just the words themselves. Maybe that's why I skip long descriptions. I don't want to work to imagine what I'm supposed to be seeing.

Is this a usual thing for people who like to work with words? Do you "see" images from what you're reading and writing, or just process them in words?

When I read, I see the whole thing play out in my head. I can see the characters, the settings, everything. So much so that movies based on books always disappoint because they look nothing like the wonderful characters I dreamed up.

Do you process words faster than images?

KCathy

Writer when I grow up

Pagey's_Girl

Still plays with dolls

Phoebe H

Wayne K

Clair Dickson

A dark core to every cloud

StephanieFox

Maybull the Bulldog

semilargeintestine

BassGirl 5000

Silver King

Megalops Erectus

Cranky

Gehanna

Introvert

Phoebe H

Beach Bunny

The Provocative One

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester