Visual thinking

"Thinking in pictures" redirects here. For the book by Temple Grandin, see Thinking in Pictures.
Not to be confused with Spatial visualization ability.

Visual thinking, also called visual or spatial learning or picture thinking, is the phenomenon of thinking through visual processing.[1] Visual thinking has been described as seeing words as a series of pictures.[2][3] It is common in approximately 60–65% of the general population.[1] "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".[4]

  1. ^ a b Deza 2009, p. 526.
  2. ^ Silverman, Linda Kreger (2002-01-01). Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner (First ed.). Denver, Colo: DeLeon Publishing. ISBN 978-1-932186-00-0.
  3. ^ Silverman, Linda Kreger (2002). Visual-Spatial Learners: A Handbook for Teachers" by Linda Kreger Silverman (first ed.). DeLeon Publishing. ISBN 193218600X.
  4. ^ Silverman 2005.