Re: Visualizing

On 9/6/2024 1:30 AM, Wanderer wrote:

Baloney. I don't think I really visualize things. I don't see things floating
in front of me.

If asked to visualize your spouse/offspring's faces, don't you conjure an
image?  What about thinking about the ocean?  Mountains?  Is there nothing
*visual* that comes to mind?
If someone mention's the dentist's *drill*, can you not hear the high pitched
whine?  Smell the collagen being ground up?

I feel it. Sort of like closing your eyes and feeling an object in
your hand. I know it from all angles, its insides and outsides, its texture,
its solidity, its weight... It's kind of the sculptor versus the painter but
that is the information a good painter is getting across in his painting. I don't
have problems with 3D puzzles. In high school, I had study class with the teacher
who taught remedial students. One day there were all these 3D puzzles out that
they used to test these kids cognitive ability. I walked over and solved them all
in a couple of minutes. I didn't realize I had done anything special. I thought
I just played with the toys. Until I turned around and saw the teacher staring at
me. A couple of them no one had been able to solve.

This was a common type of "IQ" test when I was young.  A 2D representation
of 3D objects and you had to pick which of the offered choices represented the
"unseen side".  You needed a sort of intuition to know the correct rendering
as exploring each option systematically would take too much time (tests
were always time-limited)
It's the same sort of skill that lets folks assemble items purchased in
an unassembled form.
Or, play chess.
For multithreaded and object-oriented software, it's an essential skill
as the interactions are more 3+ dimensional than, for example, simple
procedural programming languages.