Thinking in Pictures vs. Thinking in Words (The Work of Temple Grandin)

I love helping people appreciate different kinds of minds (neurodiversity) and appreciate the different ways of thinking that exist in the world. This week, students started with a visual-spatial identifier questionnaire (see below). We discussed how people who think predominantly in words have a lot to learn from people who think in pictures and vice-versa. In fact, some great creative partnerships in history are argued to have consisted of people who were dialed in at very different ends of this spectrum (from words to pictures). We used quotes from the book “Visual Thinking" by Temple Grandin to explore this topic further.

What is visual-spatial thinking?

“Visual thinking, also called visual or spatial learning or picture thinking, is the phenomenon of thinking through visual processing. Visual thinking has been described as seeing words as a series of pictures. It is common in approximately 60–65% of the general population. "Real picture thinkers", those who use visual thinking almost to the exclusion of other kinds of thinking, make up a smaller percentage of the population. Research by child development theorist Linda Kreger Silverman suggests that less than 30% of the population strongly uses visual/spatial thinking, another 45% uses both visual/spatial thinking and thinking in the form of words, and 25% thinks exclusively in words. According to Kreger Silverman, of the 30% of the general population who use visual/spatial thinking, only a small percentage would use this style over and above all other forms of thinking, and can be said to be true picture thinkers.” 

Quotes discussed from the book:

“The propensity for visual and spatial thinking will turn up in the activities kids gravitate toward. Often, they create beautiful drawings that are highly detailed and realistic. They also like building with toys like blocks, Legos, and Erector sets, or putting things together with materials they find around the house, such as cardboard or wood.”

“As we've learned, in most cases, object or spatial thinking is on a spectrum. Studies so far show that these are two distinct ways of thinking. Is it possible in some cases for a person to be capable of both ways of thinking at the highest levels? Perhaps when we encounter the prodigious gifts in someone who masters different mediums, someone such as Michelangelo, what we are seeing is the rare convergence of spatial and object thinking in the mind of a genius.”

“Einstein may have been one of the rare people who excelled in both visual-spatial and object visualization. Describing the place of words in his life, he said, "Thoughts do not come in any verbal formulation. I rarely think in words at all. . . .”

“Music, like visual-spatial thinking, is thought to be located on the right side of the brain. Both math and music share visual-spatial thinking as a basis for pattern-making and abstract thinking. Perhaps math departments should encourage students to learn a musical instrument. Researchers at Notre Dame of Maryland University found that adolescents who learned to play a musical instrument or studied choral music did better in algebra. There's that link of abstract thought.”

“According to Robert Root-Bernstein, a physiologist at Michigan State University, top scientists who have won the Nobel Prize were around 50 percent more likely to have a creative hobby than highly respected and successful scientists at large. Scientists who are at the top of their field often have diverse interests and are fascinated by many different subjects.”

“A question I often ask both educators and parents is, "What would happen to some of the great scientists, inventors, and artists if they were in today's educational system?" Would they fare any better than those of the past? I have observed many children and teenagers who exhibit strong aptitude in areas such as music, art, computing, or spelling bees (all of which involve feats of memorization) and who also display certain antisocial behaviors, such as poor hygiene, inability to make friends, or loner tendencies. It's likely this child is on the spectrum and may have special abilities in any of the domains: object-visual, visual-spatial, or verbal. Interestingly, at least until now, studies show that these kids are almost never a mixture of those traits. They are either an art/mechanical kid (loves to make things), a math kid (loves coding, puzzles, computers), Or verbal kid (loves stories, history, and facts).” - Temple Grandin

Optional Journal Questions This Week:
1. Do you think mostly in pictures, mostly in words, or a combination of both? How do you know?
2. What misunderstandings could develop between people who think in words and people who think in pictures?
3. Why would a creative partnership be epic if one person thought mostly in words and one thought in pictures (think composers Rodgers and Hammerstein).
4. Take one of the quotes above and summarize it in your own words.

Go Deeper: 

https://www.nobelprize.org/if-you-relax-you-are-creative/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/analysis-what-many-nobel-laureates-have-in-common-and-how-it-can-be-learned

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1041608010001548

https://www.almendron.com/tribuna/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/do-grades-and-tests-predict-adult-accomplishment.pdf

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19140120/