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What is thinking without words like?

Einfallspinsel

I once heard somebody casually say that a deaf-mute or autistic person could not possibly be thinking or understanding anything, because they didn't know any words. Without words, what would they be thinking? Nothing! It would be like a newborn baby's brain.

My first reaction was that this is nonsense. Don't people often have thoughts without words? (Isn't that what intuition is supposed to be like?) And when we were babies, were we not thinking? We were admitedly thinking in a different way than after we learned speaking. Don't babies think a lot about edibility and patterns and senses?

So, does anybody remember what thinking without words is like, and can put it in words? (I know I know, it's as bad as "googling for google", the world will implode!) Innocent

I would spontaneously describe it as a Venn diagram of memories.

And by "memory" I don't mean one word, rather... an associated set of sensory information, which may include moods/emotions, but not necessarily time. And by Venn diagram I mean thoughts such as "A and B can/must happen together" or "A and C rarely/never happen together".

Hard to describe, I'm not satisfied with my description. Anyone have anything better?

Parents

  • There are many interesting psychological experiments that indicate that thinking and decisions are often made without verbal reasoning and our impression that we made a decision logically is a delusion generated in the language centers of the brain, that often have little or no relevant input while the decision is made but simple make up an explaination afterwards.

    For example experiments on suggestion where the size of a plate or the type of drink offered can influence a later decision. Usually the subject gives a logical reason for the decision that is unrealted to the condition that influenced them.

    For these and other reasons I believe verbal thought is largely an illusion generated by the brain for social reasons.

Reply

  • There are many interesting psychological experiments that indicate that thinking and decisions are often made without verbal reasoning and our impression that we made a decision logically is a delusion generated in the language centers of the brain, that often have little or no relevant input while the decision is made but simple make up an explaination afterwards.

    For example experiments on suggestion where the size of a plate or the type of drink offered can influence a later decision. Usually the subject gives a logical reason for the decision that is unrealted to the condition that influenced them.

    For these and other reasons I believe verbal thought is largely an illusion generated by the brain for social reasons.

Children
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