The visualisation issue

Lounge
1

A comment I made in a email from June 2008. Obviously I was aware of the visualisation issues even then.

“During my teenage years i used to be quite an eclectic and voracious reader but now find it hard to enjoy reading due to difficulties when it comes to visualising
characters and scenes from the text as i am reading . That renders the experience rather one dimensional .”

It may be in my youth ,although aphantasic, I didn’t think others visualised with their mind and therefore didn’t see myself as missing out or having a ‘one dimensional experience’. The gradual realisation that this may not be true probably accounts for why I’ve enjoyed reading less as time has gone on.

I know when I did guided imagery relaxation classes back in 2004-5 I couldn’t imagine the sights and sounds of the beach, and so got nothing out of the exercise .

2 Likes
2

I am sorry you are this way @firemonkey I can visualize but don’t have the concentration to read books. So I guess that’s just as bad.

3 Likes
3

I would definitely agree with that.

1 Like
4

I’m sorry because it seems to cause you distress. You’re so intelligent, @firemonkey, that you can maybe find solace that you understand so much?
I can’t imagine not visualizing. I get so caught up and then distracted by my “runaway” visuals that I often lose track of books I read. I think that’s why I’m a slow reader.
Everything is visual in my mind. Not a photographic memory, unfortunately, but everything is translated to imagery. Then, when I want to talk, it has to be translated to words.
I remember seeing that famous woman with Autism (can see her face and hear her talk but can’t see her name in my mind), her book called “Thinking in Pictures”. I bought it and was so excited to read about someone else thinking this way. By the end I was crying because her visuals are so practical and constructive and mine are not…
Anyway, I know it’s a condition in your case that causes you distress so I’m sorry about that. But not everyone is visual, and for someone like me who is hyper-visual it doesn’t do me much good. :blush: