Visual spatial learner

JDS

Im a visual spatial learner, a picture thinking process u can call it.....

My brain has been wired to pick up certain information in which a picture can be created in my mind, i say a picture, but a better explanation would be to say that a short movie clip is created and runs inside my mind....

Therefore: solutions to any problems need not have a step by step process which must be followed, rather a step 1 and a step 2...... start and finish...
thats it, all the info inbetween cannot be written down or explained, simply because the trial and error process takes place in my mind, until the i feel the right solution has been found.




Is there anyone who can comment not only on what i have said here but maybe someone else who is a picture thinker to add some clarity..

LURCH

I tend to be a visual learner myself. There are advantages and dissadvantages. For one, we tend to come up with answers that we feel are right (as you said). This is a terrible way to solve problems, because it is unreliable and will produce answers that "look right to me", but aren't, and I have no way of telling wether my answer is right or not if I can't write down the steps in between.

On the other hand, we do tend to come up with answers much more quickly, because the visual method works by "leaps" in logic. If a visual thinker can develope the discipline to trace back his answers and form a logical, step-by-step discription of the "why" of an answer, he will tend to arrive at the answer more quickly than the more "linear" type of thinker. And occassionaly, we see anwers that just could not ever be arrived at "step-by-step".

But both types of thinking are really nacessary. Whichever one a man may have by nature, he should work hard at developing the other, so he can approach questions from a well-rounded perspective.

maxvan

hi, I am a visual spatial learner too, thinking in pictures, movies. I think mostly in 3d and people don't understand me with most time, for they can not believe I already have the sollution although they still need to go step by step. this make it in the society really unbelievable to maintain. They just don't believe me or they don't trust me, how can I know that???

berkeman

Note that a couple of the "Similar Threads" listed at the bottom of this page may be of interest to you guys...

symbolipoint

JDS, if you are able to "Play" motion pictures of situations in you head, you have a skill which most people only have to a much poorer extent. In any case, being able to create a picture (non-moving) is essential to most if not all of mathematics and physics and engineering. One develops a picture, labels parts of it, creates/derives expressions and equations, and then solves some particular practical or theoretical problem. The pictures are necessary for organizing the situation understandibly.

Your description of "thinking in moving pictures" resembles that of a very famous and successful individual known to have asperger's syndrome (or autistic).

maxvan

to symbolipoint,

thanks for your comment, but visual spatial learner has got nothing to do with autistic people.when I come inside a building, Just with 1 time I see how good or bad they made a construction, or where I can find the red thread in a film, or even how it will end. For I feel en see it in my mind. I can turn the film or anything else anyhow I want in my mind. I even create of make things better in my mind, or how it should be better instantly, for I see the whole situation just like that. but for getting or having work as profession nobody believe that, for they don't trust that, I don't have any paper to tell I can do that. although it is like that.

I am very good with technics, advanced technics such like using light, etc. but as I don't have any certification of graduate, I didn't know I was visual spatial learner, they said I couldn't learn, so I only have high school papers. But as a matter of fact, I am more advanced on telecommunicatie, new sort ones etc. and other forms of technics aswell. and having a interesting job is very difficult, for nobody believes you.
Many engineer don't want to work with movies or pictures although it is crucial to find weaknesses in everything you make or repair.

DaveC426913

I too am a visual learner.

When I was in school, I initially had a tough time understanding some math concepts. But once I got them, I got them so well that it was as if they became actual objects created in my brain, that I could toss up in the air, juggle, spin around, pull on and push on - just to see what they would do. I might have a formula and see its curve in my head. As I changed parameters, the curve would move in real time. Basically, it was a 4-dimensional image, viewable in time as well as 3D space. I routinely play with concepts this way, manipulating graphs with multiple dimensions.

And I'm currently on my third prototype of a 4D table that represents the 4 parameters of the Meyers-Briggs personality test... :D

Proton Soup

hmm, i thought almost all engineers thought visually. or maybe i just don't grok your meaning. but if you go in a building where there are engineers, find a bulletin board. often, if you look on the back side of the items posted there, you will find some scribbles where one engineer was describing his idea to another.

Moonbear

Since this thread has resurfaced, I've moved it to the educator forum. While it's not directly a topic for educators, discussion of learning styles is of interest to educators, so this seems the most appropriate place for it.

Werg22

I'm not exactly in this camp. For me, the biggest challenge in learning something new is to chase away the intuitive discomfort. To do this I have to formulate the material VERY precisely so the picture that comes to my mind is completely free of ambiguity. I am intuitive enough but I am suspicious of intuition and when I can't formulate things explicitly and precisely it makes me uneasy. I can say something "feels right" but I'm not going to continue until I find exactly why it's right. I don't think it's a good way of learning things because an enormous amount of time is spent filtering out the intuition or uncovering the tacit assumptions made that most people don't even realize are made since they are so embedded into their intuition and once that done I try to figure out why intuition was in agreement (or disagreement) with how things actually are. To me, figuring out the processes that leads me to learn something is as important as the learning itself. If I try to be dismissive of this I stay with a feeling of discomfort.

One advantage though is that makes finding subtle differences between different situations and explaining them fully a more familiar exercise. I don't know what's the matter with me, to tell the truth, maybe it's too much lack of confidence into my intuitive side.

DaveC426913

Is it just me or have you been incommunicado for a loooong time until very recently?

Werg22

Who are you referring to, Dave?

khemix

too many people think they are visual learners. i personally don't even think such a thing exists.

mostly everything you do is easier to understand with a picture. thats why all your textbooks contain diagrams. if i tried to describe to you what a racoon is, no matter how poetic my words may be, you would still come out with a very poor intuitive graps of what a raccoon looks like. but if i showed you a picture, you'd understand instantly.

what you are describing with an intuitive grasp of answers is not new either. its called intuition. and it isn't always right. what it does is draw analogies from previous experiences and pieces them together as logically as possible. for instance, your intuition would tell you that a bowling ball and a penny would not hit the ground at the same time - where in fact they do.

if you cannot describe the process that got you there i am afraid this is a very important skill you need to develop. one must learn to express his ideas on paper to succeed just about anywhere. it also makes for good science. i also think you just play too many video games.

DaveC426913

You.

DaveC426913

You should talk to more people before coming to such a conclusion. See below.

That works for visual concepts, sure. But what about more abstract concepts? How many movies can you name that were better than the book? No picture can describe with such beautiful detail the things I have read in books.

The problem with visual input is that it does not provide interpretation. The viewer is free to roam about the picture and come to all sorts of incorrect conclusions. Believe me, as an artist, I know.

Ask ten people to describe ewhat they see in a paintin in a gallery. You will get ten different answers, that's ten interpretations.

But a writer can transmit to you almost exactly what he wants you to get. Stephen King said in his book "On Writing": It is the closest thing we have to telepathy.

I will introduce you to my son and wife. They are both auditory learners. They learn best by hearing things, such as spoken instructions. Visual learning does not stimulate them in the right ways to retain the information.

They cannot make heads or tails of a map, but read the directions to them...

The three types of learning are:
visual, auditory and kinesthetic.

I know I am not auditory or kinesthetic because neither of those stimulate retention of knowledge in me.

Werg22

??? Explain.

Proton Soup

you really think so? i'm sure you're more one than others, but if you really want to learn something, then read it, speak it, hear it, write it, and do it.