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Some people have much more vivid visual imagination than others. I know people who can close their eyes and imagine, say, a pink elephant, and literally see it in incredible detail. Some can even do it with their eyes open, superimposing it on what they already see.
I can sort of visualize the pink elephant with my eyes closed, but it is usually abstracted and transparent, with very faint hints of edges and little to no color. My spatial reasoning is still quite good because I can still mentally manipulate shapes and images even if they're faint.
However, a friend who does see the vivid images suggested that everyone sees vivid images as a child, and that vividness goes away as they grow up for some reason. She said I probably could relearn to have a vivid imagination.
I first tried visualizing an inverted blue triangle while falling asleep every night. I thought it was good to start with something simple. This actually did not work well. I could build up the faint outlines, but I couldn't add any color.
I noticed some strange things though. If I just focused on color, I could "wash" my whole visual field with a color of my choosing for a couple of seconds. The colors were faint, and I couldn't shape the colors into well-defined shapes.
I did have some success during the last moments before falling asleep. During those moments, my ability to visualize things became a lot better. I could see whole scenes in vivid color, though I had relatively little control over them. It turns out this pre-sleeping dreamlike state is called Hypnagogia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia
Tonight I did some exploration of an abandoned industrial building. (This is a rare activity for me) After a night of climbing around strange decayed machinery, I found myself seeing spontaneous faint images in the center of my visual field. I tried closing my eyes and visualizing the inverted blue triangle. It popped out brightly and had many other blue triangles embedded within it.
Something about this truly fresh and unique experience helped push my imaginative powers way up. Thinking back, I recalled seeing the same spontaneous faint image during other times of fresh intense experiences, like the day I learned to ski downhill or Burning Man.
I think this solves the puzzle. People like me who lack strong visualization skills only have the ability to visualize vividly if our minds have been freshly stimulated in a new way. For kids, every experience is a new experience. Their brains are soaking up as much as they can. As a result, they have vivid imaginations. It's only when the monotony and predictability of the adult routine sets in that the brain starts to go more on autopilot and imagine less. Thus, if I want a vivid imagination, I have to continuously push myself into completely new directions to keep my brain on edge. Even though my work environment is very fulfilling, it's still predictable in many ways. I need to truly surprise myself.
I can sort of visualize the pink elephant with my eyes closed, but it is usually abstracted and transparent, with very faint hints of edges and little to no color. My spatial reasoning is still quite good because I can still mentally manipulate shapes and images even if they're faint.
However, a friend who does see the vivid images suggested that everyone sees vivid images as a child, and that vividness goes away as they grow up for some reason. She said I probably could relearn to have a vivid imagination.
I first tried visualizing an inverted blue triangle while falling asleep every night. I thought it was good to start with something simple. This actually did not work well. I could build up the faint outlines, but I couldn't add any color.
I noticed some strange things though. If I just focused on color, I could "wash" my whole visual field with a color of my choosing for a couple of seconds. The colors were faint, and I couldn't shape the colors into well-defined shapes.
I did have some success during the last moments before falling asleep. During those moments, my ability to visualize things became a lot better. I could see whole scenes in vivid color, though I had relatively little control over them. It turns out this pre-sleeping dreamlike state is called Hypnagogia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia
Tonight I did some exploration of an abandoned industrial building. (This is a rare activity for me) After a night of climbing around strange decayed machinery, I found myself seeing spontaneous faint images in the center of my visual field. I tried closing my eyes and visualizing the inverted blue triangle. It popped out brightly and had many other blue triangles embedded within it.
Something about this truly fresh and unique experience helped push my imaginative powers way up. Thinking back, I recalled seeing the same spontaneous faint image during other times of fresh intense experiences, like the day I learned to ski downhill or Burning Man.
I think this solves the puzzle. People like me who lack strong visualization skills only have the ability to visualize vividly if our minds have been freshly stimulated in a new way. For kids, every experience is a new experience. Their brains are soaking up as much as they can. As a result, they have vivid imaginations. It's only when the monotony and predictability of the adult routine sets in that the brain starts to go more on autopilot and imagine less. Thus, if I want a vivid imagination, I have to continuously push myself into completely new directions to keep my brain on edge. Even though my work environment is very fulfilling, it's still predictable in many ways. I need to truly surprise myself.
