# Do you think in color?



## LostLonelyandTired (Feb 15, 2016)

If someone asks you to think of a red ball, can you? For me I can not think in color. That red ball is just words in my mind to explain it simply. If I try and imagine an object or something as such it is always colorless or else I imagine words instead of an actual picture so to speak. It is incredibly difficult to explain what exactly I mean and this is the best I could do. So to summarize; are your thoughts in color?


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## WillYouStopDave (Jul 14, 2013)

Yes. I CAN think in color. Whether or not I always do, I really don't know. Like if I'm just zoned out thinking about something random, I really don't know exactly whether I'm visualizing thought or simply cold facts and bits and pieces of information. But if I think of someone's face, I see it in color in my mind.

I doubt there is anything significantly wrong with you if you think differently. People are different. As long as you know which colors are which and you recognize them when you see them. But I guess you'd have to ask someone who knows for sure.


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## Rains (Jan 20, 2016)

Yes. Very much so. If I think of a red ball, I see a fire engine red ball. I'm probably kind of the opposite to you because colors are quite prominent in my mind and I even have some color synesthesia.


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## a degree of freedom (Sep 28, 2011)

.... I guess my thoughts are generally not visual unless complex, and if visual are most likely to be abstract black and white diagrams that do nothing except provide a kind of anchor or pointers for temporary information (much as you might use your hands to represent and manipulate multiple pieces of information).

But I have no problem picturing things with color, such as a red ball. I'd never not taken it for granted that everyone could do this before. Are there not colors in your dreams? If you try to picture a blue sky with some clouds, there is no blue?


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## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

LostLonelyandTired said:


> If someone asks you to think of a red ball, can you? For me I can not think in color. That red ball is just words in my mind to explain it simply. If I try and imagine an object or something as such it is always colorless or else I imagine words instead of an actual picture so to speak. It is incredibly difficult to explain what exactly I mean and this is the best I could do. So to summarize; are your thoughts in color?


I can certainly imagine colour. I understand not everyone can though which is an interesting facet of some people's minds.

Are your dreams in colour?


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## Wings of Amnesty (Aug 5, 2015)

I'm very good at visualizing my imagination, it's hard to explain 'where' I see it though. I only think visually when I specifically want to.


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## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

Wings of Amnesty said:


> I'm very good at visualizing my imagination, it's hard to explain 'where' I see it though. I only think visually when I specifically want to.


Well I guess it depends if it's something that has a physical aspect in order to visualise it. If it does, I always 'see it' in my imagination.

Are you saying you can imagine physical things without visually imagining them?


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## Wings of Amnesty (Aug 5, 2015)

ugh1979 said:


> Are you saying you can imagine physical things without visually imagining them?


Yeah. That's my normal way of imagining, I'm not sure how to explain. "Seeing" the ball takes effort, thinking about the ball doesn't. That includes imagining scenes with action, I can see it like a movie in my head, but I don't have to.


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## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

Wings of Amnesty said:


> Yeah. That's my normal way of imagining, I'm not sure how to explain. "Seeing" the ball takes effort, thinking about the ball doesn't. That includes imagining scenes with action, I can see it like a movie in my head, but I don't have to.


Interesting.  I can't help but see it and it takes zero effort. I can't think how I could imagine a ball without visually imaging the ball. So how do you know it's a ball if you aren't visualising it? What properties does it have in your concious?


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## Wings of Amnesty (Aug 5, 2015)

ugh1979 said:


> Interesting.  I can't help but see it and it takes zero effort. I can't think how I could imagine a ball without visually imaging the ball. So how do you know it's a ball if you aren't visualising it? What properties does it have in your concious?


I really wish I could explain. The best way I can say it is that I just know. Maybe this will help, do you subvocalize when you read? And, have you ever learned to read without subvocalizing? It's kinda like that.


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## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

Wings of Amnesty said:


> I really wish I could explain. The best way I can say it is that I just know. Maybe this will help, do you subvocalize when you read? And, have you ever learned to read without subvocalizing? It's kinda like that.


Funny you should say that is do sub vocalise when reading. I can't help but not. I even read things in the voice/accent of the person who wrote it if I know how it sounds or I can imagine it. I like doing that though. 

I wish I didn't as I could then read faster. It's something I could maybe learn but then again, I might just have a brain that can't work that way.

It's funny you say it takes effort to visualise something so sometimes you don't. It takes no effort for me.

I guess we're just wired up a little bit different and that's fine.


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## KILOBRAVO (Sep 17, 2011)

interesting. question. I think in colour. red ball.... yellow banana... blue sky... grey squirrel .. I imagine the colours. in fact i m very colour driven .


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## Mlt18 (Jun 29, 2016)

I picture a different color for each month, day of the week, school subject, etc. So I guess I can think in color when it doesn't even make sense or is necessary.


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## Squirrelevant (Jul 27, 2008)

I can think in colour. I'm often imagining hypothetical scenarios or conversations with other people in my head.


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## Skygrinder (Nov 30, 2017)

I was actually going to open a similar thread, because I was wondering about how other people imagine things. I would *APPRECIATE* it if someone read these examples below and tell me if they ever imagine stuff like that.

Anyway, yes. My imagination is actually insanely vivid, especially if I close my eyes when imagining things. In fact, it's sometimes hard for me to focus on what I'm doing because of it. Sometimes I even make myself have reactions that I can't control. Laughing out loud, crying...etc.

Often when driving in a bus, I would be sitting, looking through the window and I would start imagining something funny, like maybe someone slipping, falling and I would start giggling in a bus full of people, because it's almost like it's happening right in front of me. People then give me looks like I'm crazy.

I would see a dead cat on the street, ran over by a car and I would imagine it alive, with some random family, two small children chasing the cat around the yard and into the house, running through a hallway and into rooms, laughing.

I'd see an empty coca-cola bottle on the street and I would imagine couple of kids coming back from school, one of the kids tilting his head and drinking the last drop, before throwing the bottle away.

I would give some crazier examples too, but I think people will start thinking that I'm crazy or lying.

But here, the other day I wrote this in that other thread "random thought of the day":










_(Yes, I know I've said thoughts and thinking in that post, but this is that I was referring to for the most part. Seeing something, thinking about it and then imagining things about it)._

Those were just some examples, but it sometimes goes much crazier and longer. I just always wondered if other people did this too, but I never really asked anyone.

It actually even messes up my workout nowdays. I would do a set of pushups, then I would start imagining things while waiting 60 seconds for the next set, but I would get so lost in my imagination and only snap out of it in like 2-3 minutes to continue the workout.


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## Tytonidae (Nov 19, 2017)

My situation is almost the exact opposite of the OP. I automatically think in vivid imagery and sometimes struggle to translate my thoughts into words because of it.


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## Canadian Brotha (Jan 23, 2009)

Yes I can visualize things in colour fairly well


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## SFC01 (Feb 10, 2016)

yeah its easy


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## Muliosys (Aug 28, 2017)

Yes, just reading your post I had a red ball appear in my mind's eye. I'm very much a visual thinker. I do imagine words too, but at the same time. Like I'll see the image of a red ball and think the words "red ball" simultaneously if that makes sense.


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## hoddesdon (Jul 28, 2011)

No, but I see in colour.


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## TryingToBeBrave (Jan 1, 2018)

yes I can, its useful for solving a Rubik's cube if you can 'see' the colors on the side facing away from you, and imagine how it will look after you turn before actually doing so.


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## WillYouStopDave (Jul 14, 2013)

TryingToBeBrave said:


> yes I can, its useful for solving a Rubik's cube if you can 'see' the colors on the side facing away from you, and imagine how it will look after you turn before actually doing so.


 Hmmm. I think that would be more a matter of having a really good memory. I mean, obviously, it does mean you can picture color in your mind but it doesn't necessarily mean you can remember exactly what you saw when you're not seeing it anymore.


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## Rhythmbat (Jan 6, 2018)

I can think in color but i don't normally do because shapes are more natural to me.


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## roxslide (Apr 12, 2011)

Yes I think in colour but have as hard time visualizing things especially on command. I cannot imagine a red ball on command. I have an easier time imagining interactive scenes though for some reason. I tried imagining other things and I imagined a green grass field and then a beach. Then I tried going back to the ball and could only imagine a bouncy house full of red balls, but I can't imagine a singular red ball for some reason, I even tried to imagine a red ball bouncing and that failed.

I tend to unwittingly imagine scenes or cascading events though. I often get anxiety because certain scenes are crystal clear in my mind (like a slide show or watching a video that speeds up and pauses) and I get very nervous about it being reality or becoming reality.


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## truant (Jul 4, 2014)

Yes. I can close my eyes and imagine myself in almost any kind of environment, in full color. If I look closely at an object (including people), the details are photorealistic. But they're only as accurate as my knowledge of the object. My hearing isn't quite as good, and I have to work to smell or taste things, but I can feel textures fairly well.

When I write stories, part of my attention is in this imaginary world, observing everything unfold, and the other part is in the real world, trying to think of the best words to use to describe what I'm seeing. I don't plot or outline my stories; I just write down what I see/hear.

My imagination is fairly close to dreaming. It just lacks the "realness" of a dream and it's hard to maintain my focus because I'm competing with sensations from the real world. This is great when you're imagining good things (like sex), but it's really unpleasant when you're imagining bad things. I have graphic, intrusive visions of violence and self-mutilation all the time, thanks to my OCD, so my life sometimes feels like a kind of living nightmare. :/


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## AntisocialLoner (Oct 19, 2016)

I think in colorful images to help me remember books. Sometimes words make the world boring to me. And what bores me makes me likely to forget.


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## notBlair (Sep 1, 2016)

Interesting. Yes.


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## vedavon8 (Oct 27, 2017)

well if you think for yourself that works out fine


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