Re: the apple test

On 1/01/2025 10:48 am, john larkin wrote:

On Tue, 31 Dec 2024 18:07:34 -0500, Joe Gwinn <joegwinn@comcast.net>
wrote:
 

On Tue, 31 Dec 2024 14:00:00 -0800, john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com>
wrote:
>

>
Close your eyes and imagine an apple in front of your face. Can you
see it? In detail, in color? Can you rotate it on any axis and see it
moving? Can you look down on it from the top and see which way the
stem points?
>
Some people can visualize the apple, some can't. Some of the can't
folks are writers, artists, healthcare providers, programmers. Their
brains apparently process words, not images.
>
Seems to me that a circuit designer should be able to visualize
circuits, but maybe not.

>
This was discussed on SED in September 2024 in the thread titled
"Visualizing".
>
>

One guy I talked to today can only imaging the apple floating above
his head, and can't manipulate, or really much see, it. He's a very
good programmer.

>
Programming per se is logic, not physics.
>
There has been lots of research on performing mental rotation of a
figure or object, based on how long it takes to answer a question that
requires mental rotation.  Turns out that the delay is proportional to
the magnitude (in degrees) of the required rotation, and not the
direction, as I recall.  It does not much depend on IQ.
>
This implies that there is a physical area in the brain that performs
rotation, and how well this works will thus vary from person to
person.
>
>

I suspect that half of the people that we think are rude in
supermarkets, or bad drivers, aren't so much ill-mannered as they
can't visualize spatial situations or mentally model trajectories.

>
Well, maybe they're just arrogant and entitled.  Manners don't arise
from or require the mental ability to visualize a rotating apple.

 I said that I suspected half.
 My wife is neither arrogant nor entitled.  But she wouldn't be a good
line chef; she can't navigate or anticipate other peoples' paths, in a
kitchen or on the road. She's a superb speech pathologist.
 Motion is yet another dimension of visualization.

Visualisaton is just one way of thinking about a problem. John Larkin thinks that he can do it well, and consequently thinks that it is a uniquely valuable skill.
He doesn't seem to have a clue about all the other ways of getting your head around a problem, and can't recognise any of them when other people try to talk about them.
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney