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Imagine a man is walking down the street of a town. He finds the shop he was meaning to buy something in and enters it. Now, were you imagining this scene fro

Imagine a man is walking down the street of a town. He finds the shop he was meaning to buy something in and enters it. Now, were you imagining this scene from a particular viewpoint? Did the man turn to the left or to the right? Was he wearing any particular clothes? Were they any particular color? Was the front of the store of any particular material? And could you still see the man in the store even though he might be, from your mind's eye's point of view, be behind a wall?

justinpombrio 7y ago
I like this as an attempt to operationalize mental imagery, which is very difficult to pin down. > Now, were you imagining this scene from a particular viewpoint? Yes, from above. > Did the man turn to the left or to the right? Yes, to the left. > Was he wearing any particular clothes? Were they any particular color? Was the front of the store of any particular material? No, no, and no. > And could you still see the man in the store even though he might be, from your mind's eye's point of view, be behind a wall? My mental imagery ended as he entered the store. But if it had continued, I think it would have switched to a vantage point inside the store.
laszlokorte 7y ago
While reading your first two sentences I just imagined it on the detail level of xkcd comics. Then when reading your question about the viewpoint the details increased and saw the stream from the perspective from a top of a building. The man did not wear any clothes. I could not tell the material of the store front because it's just as it were roughly sketched. When thinking about the man in the store a scene from little britain [1] comes to my mind. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFQ_ZrRqBlQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFQ_ZrRqBlQ edit: actually when thinking about it most images in my head are mashups of memories. Like I am sure the street I imagined comes from either a tv show or some language learning materials that where used to introduce vocabulary related to shopping or urban life.
narag 7y ago
Ahem, so those questions, why do you ask? I imagine the man walking right to left from the other side of the street, the scene was black & white like an old movie and the man was dressed accordingly, hat included, the shop front made of wood panels. You said the man entered the store, but you stopped at that moment, so don't ask what happened later.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
lqet 7y ago
> Now, were you imagining this scene from a particular viewpoint? Yes, a slightly elevated position overlooking the entire sidewalk. > Did the man turn to the left or to the right? Right. > Was he wearing any particular clothes? Were they any particular color? Brown suit. > Was the front of the store of any particular material? It looked like a clichee antique store with two large windows and a door between them. > And could you still see the man in the store even though he might be, from your mind's eye's point of view, be behind a wall? No, the movie ended as soon as he entered.
alexpetralia 7y ago
It's interesting. The very first time I read it, I don't imagine anything. The idea almost sits "latent" like quantum superposition until I really think about "imagining" it. Even then though, it's not particularly natural to do so.
uxp100 7y ago
Every time this is on HN it's really just a bunch of people talking about their experiences, and this is just a link to wikipedia, not much more to discuss here. Not very interesting. But it's still wild to me. I could answer zero of those questions. I "picture" nothing. It seems crazy that most people are seeing images in their brain all the time. Above someone tried to "help" someone visualize who couldn't by saying, imagine a pyramid, now move it 10 degrees, instant visualization. And no, that doesn't work. I don't "imagine" a pyramid, or anything, in a way that has motion or or direction or color.
antidesitter 7y ago
I didn’t visualize it when I first read your comment, but I can visualize it if prompted. This might be because information can be parsed and stored more quickly in abstract terms, that is, without visualization.

justinpombrio 7y ago

I like this as an attempt to operationalize mental imagery, which is very difficult to pin down. > Now, were you imagining this scene from a particular viewpoint? Yes, from above. > Did the man turn to the left or to the right? Yes, to the left. > Was he wearing any particular clothes? Were they any particular color? Was the front of the store of any particular material? No, no, and no. > And could you still see the man in the store even though he might be, from your mind's eye's point of view, be behind a wall? My mental imagery ended as he entered the store. But if it had continued, I think it would have switched to a vantage point inside the store.

laszlokorte 7y ago

While reading your first two sentences I just imagined it on the detail level of xkcd comics. Then when reading your question about the viewpoint the details increased and saw the stream from the perspective from a top of a building. The man did not wear any clothes. I could not tell the material of the store front because it's just as it were roughly sketched. When thinking about the man in the store a scene from little britain [1] comes to my mind. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFQ_ZrRqBlQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFQ_ZrRqBlQ edit: actually when thinking about it most images in my head are mashups of memories. Like I am sure the street I imagined comes from either a tv show or some language learning materials that where used to introduce vocabulary related to shopping or urban life.

narag 7y ago

Ahem, so those questions, why do you ask? I imagine the man walking right to left from the other side of the street, the scene was black & white like an old movie and the man was dressed accordingly, hat included, the shop front made of wood panels. You said the man entered the store, but you stopped at that moment, so don't ask what happened later.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

lqet 7y ago

> Now, were you imagining this scene from a particular viewpoint? Yes, a slightly elevated position overlooking the entire sidewalk. > Did the man turn to the left or to the right? Right. > Was he wearing any particular clothes? Were they any particular color? Brown suit. > Was the front of the store of any particular material? It looked like a clichee antique store with two large windows and a door between them. > And could you still see the man in the store even though he might be, from your mind's eye's point of view, be behind a wall? No, the movie ended as soon as he entered.

alexpetralia 7y ago

It's interesting. The very first time I read it, I don't imagine anything. The idea almost sits "latent" like quantum superposition until I really think about "imagining" it. Even then though, it's not particularly natural to do so.

uxp100 7y ago

Every time this is on HN it's really just a bunch of people talking about their experiences, and this is just a link to wikipedia, not much more to discuss here. Not very interesting. But it's still wild to me. I could answer zero of those questions. I "picture" nothing. It seems crazy that most people are seeing images in their brain all the time. Above someone tried to "help" someone visualize who couldn't by saying, imagine a pyramid, now move it 10 degrees, instant visualization. And no, that doesn't work. I don't "imagine" a pyramid, or anything, in a way that has motion or or direction or color.

antidesitter 7y ago

I didn’t visualize it when I first read your comment, but I can visualize it if prompted. This might be because information can be parsed and stored more quickly in abstract terms, that is, without visualization.