Imagination while reading?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by mrscoach

So, do you imagine the scenes from the books you read? I know people who read a lot are most likely "good" readers, because if you aren't you probably aren't going to do a lot of it, but I was wondering about this little cross section of humanity (or non-humans, if any be on here).

Yes I do. If it's a book I'm really getting in to, it can even get to the point where I don't consciously see the words anymore, the "pictures" in my head take over. I'm sure my eyes are obviously still reading, but my brain focuses more on the imagery that it creates than the text on the page.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by AlbertaCowboy

That's the first time that I have ever heard of imagination referred to as "a crutch".

Yeah, interesting to see someone say that using your brain is a crutch. I guess they don't suffer from that "problem".

[Maggie Leung]

Why do threads so often fall into this pattern:

One person: I like X, or I do things X way.
Another person: Well, I do it another way, and your way is inferior.

Thing is, people think and experience things differently. We have personal preferences. We're wired differently. There's nothing wrong with us enjoying reading differently. Some kids will have a harder time learning to read, so they will need different teaching approaches, is all.

[mrscoach]

I think the correct approach to teaching someone to read involves more than one approach. My daughter JUST learned phonics, so didn't learn to recognize words when she saw them, she had to use each syllable to figure out a word. My son learned some phonics, some whole language. He wasn't a great reader at first, either.

I think the biggest difference in why my son now reads so well is the fact that he WANTS to. My daughter has too many other interests in her life to read too much, though she LOVVVVEEESSSSSS the Twilight series. (forgive her, but at least she reads and rereads them)

I was just curious on whether people "saw" the story or not. I didn't mean to cause a fight. I now know that both ways are normal. There are no crutches or wrong ways to read, unless you aren't reading at all.

[Freeshadow]

Have you ever read a book where you remember character dialog and later re-read the book and can not find the phrases the print?

never.
just as skipping words or parts of text isn't "reading" but "a quick glance" for me. something i might use before buying a book. you cheat calling it reading. skipping hinders absorbtion, since you need a short countercheck if the part is skippable at all

as i said, i can pause textual data input and start to extrapolate additional outputs (audiovisual, world model, presented magic model, connections between chars, etc.) [this happens frequently enough, since it lasts only 1.5-3 sec. per action. it also gives me a short rest in pure text absorption] from it but i never screw the original data feed so much, that my imagination needs to replace skipped parts with self-created ones.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by mrscoach

I was just curious on whether people "saw" the story or not. I didn't mean to cause a fight. I now know that both ways are normal. There are no crutches or wrong ways to read, unless you aren't reading at all.

They all say that

Seriously, it was a good question. I've always been wandering a bit myself about people "seeing" what they read almost like a film.

[goinveg]

How does the following paragraph explain how we learn to read?

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe. ceehiro.

[Rich_D]

Originally Posted by Maggie Leung

Why do threads so often fall into this pattern:

One person: I like X, or I do things X way.
Another person: Well, I do it another way, and your way is inferior.

Because many people feel that if you aren't doing things their way, then you must be wrong! Otherwise they are wrong and that just can't be!

Personally these are my favorite types of threads. Few things are funnier than a zealot all worked up and foaming at the mouth!

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Maggie Leung

Thing is, people think and experience things differently.

Absolutely. Unfortunately, some people are too insecure to accept that their answer isn't the ONLY right answer.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Absolutely. Unfortunately, some people are too insecure to accept that their answer isn't the ONLY right answer.

Yeah, it's a shame so many people think that the only good way to read is through visualization.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Yeah, it's a shame so many people think that the only good way to read is through visualization.

Some people from both sides are guilty of thinking their way is the only right answer.

[Freeshadow]

@ mrscoach: don't feel bad about it, a heated dicussion can be very refreshing, as long as it isn't getting personal. it's a good discussion i think.
a fitting enrichment to the forum.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by Rich_D

Because many people feel that if you aren't doing things their way, then you must be wrong! Otherwise they are wrong and that just can't be!

Personally these are my favorite types of threads. Few things are funnier than a zealot all worked up and foaming at the mouth!

Oh thoot! The thilly eth key on my keyboard quit working becauth foam thorted it out.

[Angst]

I definitely visualize when I am reading. Especially fiction. I am creating a movie in my mind based on the words on the page. Sometimes, if a passage is especially graphic/interesting, I will put down the book and continue imagining where the "movie" is going.

I am a slow reader. I read at the same speed I talk, saying each word in my mind as I read. At the same time I am building the "movie" in my mind. Although this doesn't always work with technical documents, often I am trying to put the formula's and concepts into graphical form as an aid to understand a concept: finding examples, building graphs, comparing what I know against new material. I find if I can visualize something, I can understand it, and remember it.

I have talked with friends about this visualization process. Some do, some don't. Examples of visualization from real life:
A lamp shade is imagined as spinning in 3D
The calendar year is visualized as a circle.

I suspect this is much like the left brain, right brain dominance in some people. Some people may feel emotions brought about by reading words while other people visualize those same words.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Ea

Perhaps that's why I'm becoming more and more sensitive to the quality of the prose because I actually notice the writing as well as the story. I think you guys who want to lose yourself in visualising, you're missing out. I, one the other hand, can just put a film in my DVD player

I agree. And seeing a movie is for me an activity were I am audience and not participator so if I would see a movie when reading it would be much harder to feel the "reality" of the book.