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I'm uncertain whether it is the conceptual step of visualising the image, or the execution that you find challenging. From the context I'm assuming it's the for

I'm uncertain whether it is the conceptual step of visualising the image, or the execution that you find challenging. From the context I'm assuming it's the former. I find drawing these types of images effortless. But I ( native English speaker) struggle ( had to google to write the first sentence ) with which is which in _former_ and _later_. I always imagine the past stretching behind and the first thing mentioned is now further away from me, so it should be the 'later' and the second thing mentioned is now closer to me and should be the 'former'. I've had this conversation enough to know that some people agree and others respond by sharply downgrading their estimation of my intelligence. As a _predominantly symbolic/linguistic_ person I suspect former/later is something you would perceive as effortless. Though I have hard time taking the visual/auditory/kinaesthetic learning styles seriously, and with no thought as to the contribution to the variation between individuals being learned or innate - symbolic/linguistic/visual seem to be different competencies. And Gilles Castel seems near the top of the curve on all of them.

Al-Khwarizmi 7y ago
Yes, it's mainly the conceptual part that is problematic. Although when drawing Bézier curves, for example, I also have problems with the execution, but I think they are also due to lack of visual thinking (the relation between where I click/drag the mouse and the final curve is totally non-obvious to me). Indeed, as you assume, "former" and "later" don't pose any problem for me because I don't imagine anything visual at all when I evoke those concepts, I just think about what they mean in a non-visual way. But I can see why you would struggle if you think visually. I guess the analogous weakness in my case is the one that manifests when I have hung my coat and forgot to take out e.g. the keys. I know what pocket my keys are in (e.g. suppose they are in the left inner pocket) but I totally struggle to find it when I'm not wearing the coat. Visual thinking seems to really outperform symbolic thinking in that problem, and sometimes memorization of the solution provides a shortcut in similar issues, but there it doesn't work because the coat can be hung in two orientations! So it's usually faster for me to take the coat, put it on, take the keys, and then hang the coat again, and in fact that's exactly what I do, at least if no one outside of friends and family is looking... :) I'm not sure about learning styles (if a teacher provided a visual schema of a lesson I just translated it to words, or focused more on the oral explanation and ignored the diagram, and still learned it fine, it wasn't such a big deal as some people make it look like), but thinking styles are definitely a thing. I'm not sure if the difference is learned or innate either. In my case, I have always loved reading and read a lot since infancy, so it might be learned.
- monkeycantype 7y ago
  The coat image is very amusing :)
StavrosK 7y ago
By the way, it's "latter", not "later".
jodrellblank 7y ago
I always imagine the past stretching behind and the first thing mentioned is now further away from me, so it should be the 'later' If the past is behind you, isn't further away earlier in time? The Romans are further back than yesterday, right? So nearer should be later in time? I often have to stop when doing filesystem datetime comparisons, to work out if I want greater-than or less-than, and picture it as Unix Epoch in seconds, the later time is a greater number, nearer things are closer and bigger and more recent, distant things are smaller, farther and more ancient. (btw, it's former/latter)

Al-Khwarizmi 7y ago

Yes, it's mainly the conceptual part that is problematic. Although when drawing Bézier curves, for example, I also have problems with the execution, but I think they are also due to lack of visual thinking (the relation between where I click/drag the mouse and the final curve is totally non-obvious to me). Indeed, as you assume, "former" and "later" don't pose any problem for me because I don't imagine anything visual at all when I evoke those concepts, I just think about what they mean in a non-visual way. But I can see why you would struggle if you think visually. I guess the analogous weakness in my case is the one that manifests when I have hung my coat and forgot to take out e.g. the keys. I know what pocket my keys are in (e.g. suppose they are in the left inner pocket) but I totally struggle to find it when I'm not wearing the coat. Visual thinking seems to really outperform symbolic thinking in that problem, and sometimes memorization of the solution provides a shortcut in similar issues, but there it doesn't work because the coat can be hung in two orientations! So it's usually faster for me to take the coat, put it on, take the keys, and then hang the coat again, and in fact that's exactly what I do, at least if no one outside of friends and family is looking... :) I'm not sure about learning styles (if a teacher provided a visual schema of a lesson I just translated it to words, or focused more on the oral explanation and ignored the diagram, and still learned it fine, it wasn't such a big deal as some people make it look like), but thinking styles are definitely a thing. I'm not sure if the difference is learned or innate either. In my case, I have always loved reading and read a lot since infancy, so it might be learned.

monkeycantype 7y ago
The coat image is very amusing :)

StavrosK 7y ago

By the way, it's "latter", not "later".

jodrellblank 7y ago

I always imagine the past stretching behind and the first thing mentioned is now further away from me, so it should be the 'later' If the past is behind you, isn't further away earlier in time? The Romans are further back than yesterday, right? So nearer should be later in time? I often have to stop when doing filesystem datetime comparisons, to work out if I want greater-than or less-than, and picture it as Unix Epoch in seconds, the later time is a greater number, nearer things are closer and bigger and more recent, distant things are smaller, farther and more ancient. (btw, it's former/latter)