20-30 (perhaps more) years ago, I read an article in SciAm or in some book which claimed that people fall into 3 categories based on how they think. Some are aware of mental images as they think. One of the examples given described people thinking or questioned about dates, seasons, or related subject matter. Some of these people had an image of an irregular closed curve with suggestions of the time of year appearing at various places. EG: Snow, bright sun, et cetera. When these people are asked to describe a person, scene, or object they create a mental image & describe what they see. Some people are aware of words and/or the manipulation of words when they think. The third group think using some mechanism or abstract symbols (at a level below their consciousness). At the time the article was written nobody could describe the mechanism or symbols, not even the people using whatever the method was. Note that if it does not involve either pictures or words, it seems difficult to find a method of describing it. These people are only aware of information popping into their conscious mind & verbalizing it. BTW: One would expect artists, sculptors, interior decorators, & people with similar interests to fit into the first category. While this is generally true, many such people fall into category 2 or 3. Similarly: Writers, journalists, & those with related interests generally fell into category 2, but there were lots of exceptions. Mathematicians, musicians (I think), engineers, physicists, et cetera generally fell into the third category. Again, there were lots of exceptions. I do not remember the article including statistics on how many were in each category or on the percentage of exceptions. My (often unreliable memory) tells me that the authors did not have a sample large enough to provide reliable statistics. The poll obviously relates to the above.
I can make mental images while reading and play out conversations and sentences in my head. I also draw emphasis on certain words just as I would imagine them physically being vocalized. when reading a book I feel like I can feel the emotions of the characters. But I try to do the same in life as well. I will admit I don't listen much sometimes.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I find the concept of there being different types or modes of intelligence to be fascinating and very obvious and intuitive (to me, at least). However, I don’t really like the choices you (or SciAm in this case) have offered. I’m a big fan of Howard Gardner’s ideas of multiple intelligences. To me they are much easier to identify with. Gardner proposed 8 different types of intelligence: Spatial Linguistic Logical-mathematical Kinesthetic Musical Interpersonal Intrapersonal Naturalist Spatial, Intrapersonal and Logical-mathematical describe my thought processes perfectly.
