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Simple test reveals if your mental images are more vivid than other people's

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Re: Simple test reveals if your mental images are more vivid than other people's

#92
post #83

I am not sure about this. If you stare at anything for long enough you get peculiar effects in your vision (try it). That said, in the last year or so I have begun to enjoy music from the extractor fan in our kitchen. Each time it is on I hear a random genre of music - plain chant, brass band, jazz, etc. I don't experience it in any other context (or any other hallucinations before you ask). Anyone else get something…

I once had a friend who said that his brother could dance to any "music". This included the sound of oil being heated in a pan. I also have some flashbacks sometimes, when I hear familiar sounds and I sometimes see things in a fractal structure (this plant is especially trippy: https://naturgarden.hu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/A-tuja-gon... ).

Now that I mentioned the extractor fan...have you listened to Sleep Research Facility's music? He made music out of the sound of broken fans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SleepResearch_Facility

Re: Simple test reveals if your mental images are more vivid than other people's

#94

That was seriously uncool and no fun. I almost immediately saw crosshatching bars and shapes maybe like fractals, and then the center of the screen seemed to form a white sphere and a f'ing nightmare came crawling out of it filling me with dread, and then I closed the page. Took about a minute. Did it a second time maybe 30 minutes later and it quickly resolved into spinning wind turbines blades, dozens of them, circ…

I saw spinning shapes too: spirals, figure eights, spheres of rainbow pointillist light. Or just swirling patterns like schools of fish. They all moved slowly. When I tried to focus they just disappeared. For me it was relaxing. I watched for about 5 minutes.

Re: Simple test reveals if your mental images are more vivid than other people's

#95
post #83

I am not sure about this. If you stare at anything for long enough you get peculiar effects in your vision (try it). That said, in the last year or so I have begun to enjoy music from the extractor fan in our kitchen. Each time it is on I hear a random genre of music - plain chant, brass band, jazz, etc. I don't experience it in any other context (or any other hallucinations before you ask). Anyone else get something…

I can experience something similar with the ventilation system in my apartment. Usually, the sound of it is immersed in the background noise together with other sounds coming from the outside, so most of the time I'm not aware of it at all. However, sometimes when I meditate I hear it and if I focus my attention on it, after a while it becomes clear and loud, rich and versatile, not unlike a music played on a wind instrument.

Re: Simple test reveals if your mental images are more vivid than other people's

#96
post #83

I am not sure about this. If you stare at anything for long enough you get peculiar effects in your vision (try it). That said, in the last year or so I have begun to enjoy music from the extractor fan in our kitchen. Each time it is on I hear a random genre of music - plain chant, brass band, jazz, etc. I don't experience it in any other context (or any other hallucinations before you ask). Anyone else get something…

Yes, same here. Your brain is trying to find patterns, make sense where there is none.

It also becomes more prevalent when using mind altering substances.

Re: Simple test reveals if your mental images are more vivid than other people's

#97
post #71

I also cannot recollect visual things in mind eye. It is strange to explain but I am good with inventing things and imagining complex things but I cannot see anything in mind eye. It is not visual it is more as abstract "shape", shape is not good word as it is visual, in my case try to imagine shape more as intuition or feeling. I do not know how to explain. I was kind of annoyed by this finding that I started trying…

I recently learned a trick to fall asleep faster. The theory is that sometimes we have trouble falling asleep because we’re stuck in that “logical mind” mode, ie verbalizing thoughts in our head, thinking about concepts, etc. The trick is to pick a word, something like “bed”, “sleepy”, etc. You then take each letter and try to think of as many things that start with that letter. The catch is that you should try visua…

I stumbled across a similar trick recently, which is to basically start thinking in dream-like imagery with dream-like logic, until your brain begins to adopt the pattern itself.

Re: Simple test reveals if your mental images are more vivid than other people's

#98

I watched this for ten minutes and didn't see anything (apart from a flashing red screen). I'm supposed to be the artistic one in the family, so I can't help but feel slightly disdapointed. I've always suspected that people who claimed they could visualize things with great clarity were lying (the "images" in my mind's eye are very fleeting, lacking in detail, and can't be focused on -- like they're on the extremes o…

Question: When asked to remember a person's face, can you see it in your head/"mind's eye"? FWIW, I don't think the ability to visualize something specifically in your "mind's eye" has a lot to do with creativity. I interpret this as more about direct recall of memory. The stronger the visuals the more likely you are to be able to recall a specific event/visual in more detail (whether it's accurate is up for debate).…

Barely. If I try to recall a friend's face, I sort of get small pieces. Maybe the way their eyes squint when they smile. I have more success if I try to remember a photograph I've seen of that person. I can kind of "see" them then, but again, it's very faint, and more like a memory -- the idea of a picture is there, but it's not possible to inspect any detail.

Re: Simple test reveals if your mental images are more vivid than other people's

#99
post #92
post #83

I am not sure about this. If you stare at anything for long enough you get peculiar effects in your vision (try it). That said, in the last year or so I have begun to enjoy music from the extractor fan in our kitchen. Each time it is on I hear a random genre of music - plain chant, brass band, jazz, etc. I don't experience it in any other context (or any other hallucinations before you ask). Anyone else get something…

I once had a friend who said that his brother could dance to any "music". This included the sound of oil being heated in a pan. I also have some flashbacks sometimes, when I hear familiar sounds and I sometimes see things in a fractal structure (this plant is especially trippy: https://naturgarden.hu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/A-tuja-gon... ). Now that I mentioned the extractor fan...have you listened to Sleep Resear…

Thanks they are great, I will be ... I am using those at my desk. Reminds me that the 24 hour working factory behind our house when I was very small stopped their night shift. I am told I didn't sleep through the night for a fortnight. Maybe there is a connection.

Re: Simple test reveals if your mental images are more vivid than other people's

#100
post #79

Does anybody else experience a similar phenomenon but with their auditory system? Whenever I'm falling asleep in a room with white noise (usually a fan) I swear I hear people talking, songs, animal noises... But it's just the fan.

Flowing water does that to me.
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