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How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

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Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#21

So, wait, are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of t…

For me, it makes a difference whether I imagine my body in the image or not.

A disembodied mental image is located somewhere else in my head; a first-person one moves behind my eyes. It’s not like a projection in the sense that it would replace what I actually see, but like a secondary feed that overrides some processing in the same place just after the eyes.

Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#22

So, wait, are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of t…

Yes. I am like you in that I cannot actually see anything visual in my minds eye but I can still 'visualise' it. For example, I can rotate a die in my minds eye without actually seeing it. It's hard to explain. It was a revelation when I found out that most people can actually see things visually in their minds eye. A friend of mine can actually place imagined objects into their field of view, like AR.

> I can rotate a die in my minds eye without actually seeing it. It's hard to explain.

I think I'm the same. It's as if I can imagine a geometry, but it doesn't have any texture or colour. It's not black, not grey, not brown... It's a shape in its pure form, maybe like a wireframe, without a physical manifestation.

However, I can imagine music and actually hear it. I had this a couple of times where I "replay" a song in a foreign language I've heard a long time ago, and this time I can parse out more lyrics than before. All inside my head.

Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#23
post #9

So, wait, are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of t…

> are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? No. >I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of the…

That's not what's being described in this article though.

They are saying like how you see golden dots after gently rubbing your eyes. They are saying they see images like that. Definitely seems like more than just imagining seeing something.

When I rub my eyes I definitely see some dots that are way more real than not rubbing my eyes and just imagining dots.

Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#24

So, wait, are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of t…

In my imagination I can see images basically the same as I see with my eyes, but less detailed and nowhere near as persistent.

Back of the eyelid visuals are a whole different thing, and it's good to know there's so much room to work with them.

Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#26

So, wait, are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of t…

I can't really "see" anything either, but I'm assuming it's something akin to "hearing" your inner voice. I also don't actually "hear" anything, but I can tell that it's going on in my head and it's effortless and "automatic". I don't have to consciously exert effort to "activate it", imagine it, and keep it there.

Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#27
post #12

So, wait, are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of t…

No, not with their eyes. Hence the “mind’s eye”. The darkness of your eyelids isn’t replaced, it’s just that your focus is on a mental image of what an object feels like and not just on the darkness of your vision.

When I rub by eyes, the darkness of my eyelids is definitely replaced by yellowish dots that fade in and out and move around. I'm definitely seeing them even though my eyes are closed. I'm not just imagining them.

This article is saying the effect is like that, so it seems to be different than just imagining something with your eyes closed.

When I imagine something I don't "see" it at all the way I "see" the yellow dots after rubbing my eyes.

Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#28

So, wait, are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of t…

I think it’s a spectrum. I see really vague still images if I really try but yep just back of the eyelids most of the time. I’ve had a real feel for what vivid imagery looks like a few times right before I fall asleep. I envy people that can conjure up that sort of vividness when they want.

Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#29
I thought I could use my mind's eye until I read similar threads.

I have a vivid imagination but it turns out it's all conceptual. I don't see an apple. I see a mostly circle shape. It's either green or red. Maybe yellow.

I can't draw well but I can draw anything. I know the concepts and can poorly draw the approximate.

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