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How clear are the pictures normal people can visualize. Is it like seeing but with your eyes closed? Because what I can do is nothing like seeing. Visual memor

How clear are the pictures normal people can visualize. Is it like seeing but with your eyes closed? Because what I can do is nothing like seeing. Visual memory doesnt appear like a vision. Just a vague memory. Can people actually see memories. I'm really missing out if so.

Paul_S 11y ago
I'm baffled as well. I had no idea people could do that. I thought that was called hallucination. I can remember images, I can't see them. I think I'm missing the point somewhere.
- gojomo 11y ago
  Can you draw things from memory, and get the general shapes and colors right?
  - tempestn 11y ago
    I'm not particularly skilled at drawing, but otherwise I'm fairly sure I could do that. I can remember all the major visual details of something like a room in my house, for example. But it's still not really like 'seeing' a picture of it in my head, except for little bits at a time, or a somewhat hazy collection of the whole. If I really focus it's a bit better, but some people seem to be able to just "see" memories by default. Also, most of the time I have a lot of difficulty pulling up a mental image of a face, even one I know well, or holding onto it if I do manage to briefly capture it. (But I don't seem to have any particular difficulty recognizing people by their faces; I'm not picking out features or anything like that -- I definitely remember faces and what they look like; I just can't see an image of a particular face in my mind (clearly, most of the time).
versteegen 11y ago
Yes. I find that when I imagine a scene there might be a lot of details missing without extra effort to imagine them. If I imagine a beach I might immediately get a detailed convincing image just like watching a video clip, with waves, birds, etc, because beach scenes come to mind very easily. But if I have to visualise some vague memory or novel scene I do get a very vague impression that isn't really an image at all. If I ask myself: "what's the carpet?", "what's on the walls?", etc, I can slowly add details until I get a proper image by piecing together memories. On the other hand I am very bad at recognising people or visualising faces! Even if I try to visualise my own face or the faces of my parents or a celebrity like Bill Clinton I get something that's very uncanny, distorted and missing details. The part of your brain for recognising faces is signicant in size and very specialised, so it makes good sense that you might be able to visualise faces but not other scenes or vice versa. BTW, I am a VERY visual thinker, I even do algebra in my head by imagining equations floating in space in front of me and moving terms around "physically". But I'm not an extrovert. If I can't visualise something (e.g. much of abstract algebra) I'm hopeless at it.
gojomo 11y ago
For myself, visualizing isn't exactly 'seeing'. It's just sight-like, in that the same general information about shape, color, arrangement, etc. can be pulled up, with effort. Closing the eyes isn't strictly necessary, but helps avoid the distraction of actual sight. It's very sensitive to attention/intention: asked to visualize a person, I'll mostly imagine the face and general build – not even picking specific clothes – unless that person is very associated with some outfit. But if I think more about some specific prompt – say, "what were they wearing at some recent event", or "think about their hairline" – I can call up (or pick) reasonable details. I suppose you could say it's no more vivid than it needs to be, and with concentration it becomes more vivid/detailed, but never quite like the solidity of a photograph. (Well, maybe while deeply concentrating with eyes closed, or half-asleep, or actually dreaming, there can be moments of seeming realism...)

Paul_S 11y ago

I'm baffled as well. I had no idea people could do that. I thought that was called hallucination. I can remember images, I can't see them. I think I'm missing the point somewhere.

gojomo 11y ago
Can you draw things from memory, and get the general shapes and colors right?
- tempestn 11y ago
  I'm not particularly skilled at drawing, but otherwise I'm fairly sure I could do that. I can remember all the major visual details of something like a room in my house, for example. But it's still not really like 'seeing' a picture of it in my head, except for little bits at a time, or a somewhat hazy collection of the whole. If I really focus it's a bit better, but some people seem to be able to just "see" memories by default. Also, most of the time I have a lot of difficulty pulling up a mental image of a face, even one I know well, or holding onto it if I do manage to briefly capture it. (But I don't seem to have any particular difficulty recognizing people by their faces; I'm not picking out features or anything like that -- I definitely remember faces and what they look like; I just can't see an image of a particular face in my mind (clearly, most of the time).

versteegen 11y ago

Yes. I find that when I imagine a scene there might be a lot of details missing without extra effort to imagine them. If I imagine a beach I might immediately get a detailed convincing image just like watching a video clip, with waves, birds, etc, because beach scenes come to mind very easily. But if I have to visualise some vague memory or novel scene I do get a very vague impression that isn't really an image at all. If I ask myself: "what's the carpet?", "what's on the walls?", etc, I can slowly add details until I get a proper image by piecing together memories. On the other hand I am very bad at recognising people or visualising faces! Even if I try to visualise my own face or the faces of my parents or a celebrity like Bill Clinton I get something that's very uncanny, distorted and missing details. The part of your brain for recognising faces is signicant in size and very specialised, so it makes good sense that you might be able to visualise faces but not other scenes or vice versa. BTW, I am a VERY visual thinker, I even do algebra in my head by imagining equations floating in space in front of me and moving terms around "physically". But I'm not an extrovert. If I can't visualise something (e.g. much of abstract algebra) I'm hopeless at it.

gojomo 11y ago

For myself, visualizing isn't exactly 'seeing'. It's just sight-like, in that the same general information about shape, color, arrangement, etc. can be pulled up, with effort. Closing the eyes isn't strictly necessary, but helps avoid the distraction of actual sight. It's very sensitive to attention/intention: asked to visualize a person, I'll mostly imagine the face and general build – not even picking specific clothes – unless that person is very associated with some outfit. But if I think more about some specific prompt – say, "what were they wearing at some recent event", or "think about their hairline" – I can call up (or pick) reasonable details. I suppose you could say it's no more vivid than it needs to be, and with concentration it becomes more vivid/detailed, but never quite like the solidity of a photograph. (Well, maybe while deeply concentrating with eyes closed, or half-asleep, or actually dreaming, there can be moments of seeming realism...)