Anyone else have an issue where they 'see' an image/idea in their head, before they are able to describe it in a concrete, linear way which others can understand?

For me, it took a long time to understand what others were saying. But I read a lot of scientific, literary and philosophical articles to create a library in my head. That's why I became quick to understand. 

I think in moving images mostly with my inner voice being a narrator. It's like a movie in my head that is being constructed on the fly from my senses and/or imagination.

It makes communicating with others difficult because I'm constantly having to convert other peoples words into mental images and there are often many different ways that a single sentence can be turned into a mental image and so I end up with multiple mental images in my mind and have no idea which one of them was intended by the other person. So often times I get the wrong idea and end up misinterpreting the person I'm talking with.

When I'm speaking it's the same problem in reverse. I'm converting mental images into a single sentence or paragraph and as a result of trying to accurately describe the mental images I tend to use too many words or go into too much detail. This tends to make NT people uncomfortable because they seem to prefer broad and shallow conversation rather than narrow and deep. I don't really know any way round this except to try and only describe the gist of the image and not the tiny details and then suck up the discomfort of being inaccurate.

raising hand.

Absolutely, many people experience that! It can be challenging to translate a vivid mental image or concept into clear, linear language.

TheCatWoman said:

Fiona, do you think thats what can make tv or film adaptations so wrong? The characters don't look right, speak right and the settings are wrong?

Absolutely! I try not to watch adaptations of books I have loved. If I thought the book so-so, I'll watch it. My only exceptions to this are Call the Midwife and Inspector Morse. While the characters are not the same as mine, they are close enough.

These days I prefer just reading.

I can't watch modernisations of Shakespeare, Dickens, Brontes', Austen and the Greek tragedies, they have to be historically reasonably accurate, particularly costumes. I want to be able to add my own commentary about how it still applies to modern life, as I can think for myself.

TheCatWoman said:

the Wyrd, as it's connected to everyting else too, not just words.

Yes to this too - when I'm building the map/galaxy I'm also connecting with my physical, mental and emotional history.

I can't draw, it would confuse people even more if I tried and as my mental images are personal to me, I don't think drawing them for another would help them. But also I hate it when people draw things for me, it often makes it less clear, the only time I really use drawings, are when a diagram is needed for things like floor space and door width when buying furniture.

Fiona, do you think thats what can make tv or film adaptations so wrong? The characters don't look right, speak right and the settings are wrong? I build a galaxy in my head too, its like a huge 3D mind map, I think it's similar to the Anglo-Saxon and Norse concept of the Wyrd, as it's connected to everyting else too, not just words.

I have come to believe that at least a common trait for autism is thinking in images. This makes me extremely good at my job, and I have seen other autistics talk with their hands like they are touching things, moving objects, all in their head. When I am comfortable and myself, I will do this same thing, where I am trying to describe to someone what I see, and I am "moving things" and "pointing' to objects only I can see. I want to just ask people "can you not see this!?"I have made the joke to a person I am close to at work. I have found whiteboards to be lifesavers in explaining things to people. If I can draw it, then explaining it is so much easier.

So, yes. I have my own little world always flying around me that "apparently" only I can see. ;)

I'm not sure if it's my autism or dyslexia, but when I read a sentence I build up a galaxy in my head of the words, the connections, the alternative meanings as I read each word in turn. I choose the most appropriate meaning of the words as the context builds in my head. As I build up the paragraph, I make more connections. And so on.

If what I'm reading calls something a 'process' in one part and a 'recipe' in another, I get a headache because I can't work out from the context of both words if they are representing the same thing in the author's description, or if they are talking about something different. This makes it hard to explain how I have processed the information - because it really is over-thinking!!

I find I struggle most with this at interviews.

When I read fiction it seems easier because I can emotionally connect to the characters I build in my imagination.

I think mostly in images, unless I'm having an active internal conversation with myself, then thoughts are images, or sometimes as short video clips. It does then make it hard to describe to others, particularly immediately as you need time to translate the images into verbal language. 

I see things that people say also, which is great when I'm being relayed an amusing story, not so pleasant when its something awful or upsetting. 

I think it's called a visual learning style, it goes both ways, you have to be able to picture something described to you to understand it and you have to describe the picture in your mind to another. It's difficult to describe things when others have a completely different learning style or if they try to teach you something. For example when people talk to me about maths I see an enormous, inpenatrable grey concrete wall, that stretches in front and above me, there are no doors or windows and it's smooth and unscalable, I can throw my mind against it to try and batter it down, but I just end up more confused and with a headache. It always surprises me that others don't understand this.

I can take 2 or 3 goes to eloquently explain things with just words, especially if I’m teaching junior staff at work. It’s so much easier for me if I can draw a diagram and then explain that