How do you visualize when reading

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by soulfuldog

although I guess being able to visualise how a room would look a certain way or a certain colour doesn't mean you'll be able to tell if it matches or is well designed!

now you're talking about taste and fashion. When I picked the colours of the livingroom (a very light yellowish pinkish brownish [depending on the light ] on the window frames, a chocolate brown on the beams, and a white with a reddish cast on the walls), there were not "the fashion". When we had finally put those colours up (took us about a year ), the fashion had changed and those colours were "in"...

But having an overactive imagination does help if you're buying a house and later to decorate it how you like it

[FacebookVirus]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I am just the opposite. I find it very difficult to recall music that I can't link with words, or sometimes with images, in the case of movie music.

I have noticed that for years, how in live recordings some audience members begin applauding at the beginning of a song only once the lyrics begin. Others as soon as the music starts.

[Marcy]

Originally Posted by FinancialWar

yeah sure.

When you see the word Jesus. Do you see a long hair man?

No, I don't.

Addendum: And I'm sitting here looking at the word Jesus, trying to imagine a picture. And I've got nothing. I'm clearly not a visual thinker, I think in words.

[Lin2412]

That's the best thing about books isn't it? You can visualize what you read using the magic that is your imagination? I can't get to reading books without picturing the scenario in my mind. I feel more absorbed in the story in that way. I think that is why I struggle with books that don't have enough descriptions on them.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Lin2412

That's the best thing about books isn't it? You can visualize what you read using the magic that is your imagination? I can't get to reading books without picturing the scenario in my mind. I feel more absorbed in the story in that way. I think that is why I struggle with books that don't have enough descriptions on them.

I'm the opposite - if there is a lot of description in a book, I tend to skim it or even skip whole paragraphs. In order to really take in a description, I have to force myself to slow down and think about it, which takes me out of the story.
I also skim over descriptions of action such as a fight or chase. What I read most easily and thoroughly is characters' speech or thoughts.

One of my favorite books is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which I first read in high school. At some point after I had read and reread the book, I read an introduction to it in which it was pointed out that there was very little description in the book, so that we don't know what color people's hair is, what they wore to parties, etc. Until this was pointed out to me, I hadn't even noticed the lack of descriptions.

[TechniSol]

I think that visualization while reading depends a lot on the author and their descriptive ability or their choices in describing characters or settings. I recall Ian Fleming could be a bit long winded, but he was extremely descriptive of foreign locales. I would even evince the notion that an author might be judged in terms of their ability to cause one to spontaneously visualize their characters and settings -at least to a degree.

[Antoinekamel]

I do not get images, not of words, not imagining what they mean. When I read, I get my mind pumping, like real eletrical charges disseminated in my brain. For me, reading is like a zum zum vap cabum.

[theducks]

The only time I notice visuals is when there is a jarring (continuity/physics) contradiction.

(TV/Movies do this a lot)
OTOH Sometime they flesh out something I had not figured out.

[TGS]

There is plenty of science around what folks do to construct meaning from texts. But that's just science - introspection is much more likely to be right.

[soulfuldog]

I see it as imagining how people & places look from the descriptions in a book are different from seeing an actual video of the 'action' in your mind. Everyone probably visualises to some extent, even if its just subconsciously, but seeing a video in your mind is a different thing?

[Marcy]

Originally Posted by Lin2412

That's the best thing about books isn't it? You can visualize what you read using the magic that is your imagination? I can't get to reading books without picturing the scenario in my mind. I feel more absorbed in the story in that way. I think that is why I struggle with books that don't have enough descriptions on them.

And I find books with long stretches of description to be a struggle, which must be because I'm not a visual reader at all.

I mentioned this thread to a friend the other day and she was shocked that I don't visualize an image when I read. She didn't realize you could read any other way. However the same in reverse was true for me -- it never occurred to me that people would make a picture out of the written words, since not only do I not do, I really can't do it.

[mojos]

I just like to imagine it in my head. It's a bit like watching television in my head.

[DaveCanRead]

I'd like to thank the OP for this thread. I find it very interesting.
I visualize the action, the setting, and the characters, when reading. I may even have a dream repeating the vision later on.

In an academic setting taking a test, I visualize the words, the color and fonts of the words, from the source material I used to imprint it into memory. Unfortunately it is limited to a few sentences otherwise I would have a lot easier time on tests.

[laughingdragons]

I visualize the action

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by mojos

I just like to imagine it in my head. It's a bit like watching television in my head.

Only the special effects are better in books. When I am really immersed in a book, it's almost like the words disappear. I remember one book where I "remembered" seeing a scene from the movie, and then I realized I hadn't even seen the movie, only read the book, the visual image in my mind was that vivid. It usually isn't, it's more like an impressionist painting.