How can you tell if you are a visual thinker?
It has to do with the way we perceive and think about the world, the way the brain processes information. Visual thinkers think in pictures, and verbal thinkers think in words.
And what does this mean?
Visual thinkers are very good at art, photography, and building things or designing mechanical devices. They tend to have a good ear for music, prefer drawing to writing and are good at working with animals.
Because?
Because animals are sensitive beings, they do not have words; in fact I work with cattle for this matter, I put myself in their shoes.
Do you see how cows or pigs see?
Yes, when I started designing livestock facilities what I did was see what the cattle saw in the facility; a shadow or a reflection can make the cattle stop or stress, it was very obvious to me.
Give me a picture of thinking in pictures.
It's literally having movies in your head, photorealistic images that allow us to make quick associations.
For example?
Some visual thinkers are able to easily locate a place they've been to once because their internal GPS has registered the visual landmarks.
Any handicaps?
It is not unusual for a visual thinker to take time to learn to speak and have difficulty in school with traditional teaching methods. Algebra is usually difficult for them because the concepts are abstract, with little or nothing concrete to visualize. And socially we seem awkward.
Difficulties at school mark.
Setting children up for success is critical, and that starts with understanding how they think and therefore learn.
Do verbals do better at school?
Yes, because thinking based on words is linear and sequential as learning is structured.
Are they better at understanding general concepts?
Yes, it is about those children who have a clear and organized agenda and when they become adults their desk is a tidy place.
It has advantages.
In a world increasingly oriented towards the verbal aspect and despite the great talents of visual thinkers, they tend to be marginalized. We need new ways of educating, living together and working with these people.
What else sets them apart?
Verbal thinkers learn to speak quite early and enjoy doing so, so it's common for them to tend to dominate conversations, and they're more social.
In which professions do we find them more?
In those where mastery of the language is essential: they are good politicians, lawyers, administrators, writers, teachers.
And the visuals?
They are good at photography, art, graphic design, industrial design, programming, and all kinds of activities with computers, but mentors are essential for them.
What is more, visual or verbal thinkers?
We don't know, but visuals make up a much larger proportion than previously thought, from photorealistic object visualizers, with their intuitive knack for design and problem solving, to mathematically inclined spatial visual thinkers.
good tandem
Despite this, most people use a combination of visual and verbal thinking to navigate the world.
What is your case?
I am an extreme visual thinker of objects; and along with mathematical extreme thinkers who think in patterns, it is usually the autistic way of thinking.
When and how did you discover that you were a visual thinker?
In my 20s I thought everyone thought in images like I did. My childhood was complicated, I didn't speak until I was four, and I didn't start reading until I was eight. I'm autistic
I?
My parents were told that I had to enter a psychiatric institution, luckily a mentor recognized my abilities. In 1986 I published Atravesando las puertas del autismo, in which I shared my experiences, and ten years later, Pensar con imágenes.
He also invented a hug machine that is very successful.
People with autism often suffer from anxiety when being hugged by another person, and I designed that device to calm us down, it helps us relax and empathize with other people.
