Comment author:TheOtherDave
20 October 2013 06:53:28PM
*
3 points
[-]
If you imagine Boris Karlof singing "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch", and the voice in your head doesn't sound like Boris Karlof, what does it sound like?
It doesn't sound like anything.
If that seems odd to you, imagine a triangle.
No, really, do it. I'll wait.
Now: what color was that triangle? How many centimeters across was the base? Was it a solid, or a line enclosing an area, and if the latter how thick was the line? Did it have a matte finish, or glossy? Was it opaque, transparent, or translucent? If opaque, did it cast a shadow? Where was the light source, and how tall was the triangle, and what was the color of the light... for example, was the shadow cool or warm?
Most people's imagined triangles simply won't have those visual properties, even though triangles they actually see do have those properties, because imagination isn't a matter of re-presenting things to our visual systems. It's something else, though it has aspects of that.
In much the same way, when I imagine a song, it doesn't sound like anything... it simply doesn't have those acoustic properties.
Or, well, that's my default state. I've trained (mostly for my own entertainment) to where imagined songs have various acoustic properties for me if I pay close attention to providing them, but typically they don't.
Comment author:d65vid
11 February 2014 08:09:21PM
0 points
[-]
So this is a few months later but I decided to respond anyways because 1) I had answers to many of your questions when I pictured a triangle and 2) my name is also David and "TheOtherDavid" is a name I frequently use online. How's that for typical mind?
Anyways, without even realizing I had done so, when I pictured my triangle, it was: solid, red-orange, matte, opaque, and it had no shadow. As triangles go, that particular form means nothing to me that I am aware of (it's not, for example, a sign I see at work on a regular basis or anything like that) it just happened to be what I imaged. For whatever it may be worth, I read "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch" et al in the appropriate voices in my head, but am unable to produce music or other specific sounds that I am aware of.
Similar to this type of thing, though, I experience fiction almost as a movie both as I am reading it and in retrospect. Even just after I have read a page, I will have no recollection of any of the particular words used to describe the scene, but will be able to recount everything that just happened in detail. It wasn't until I met my wife in the beginning of my time at college that I realized this wasn't how everyone experienced books.
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It doesn't sound like anything.
If that seems odd to you, imagine a triangle.
No, really, do it. I'll wait.
Now: what color was that triangle? How many centimeters across was the base? Was it a solid, or a line enclosing an area, and if the latter how thick was the line? Did it have a matte finish, or glossy? Was it opaque, transparent, or translucent? If opaque, did it cast a shadow? Where was the light source, and how tall was the triangle, and what was the color of the light... for example, was the shadow cool or warm?
Most people's imagined triangles simply won't have those visual properties, even though triangles they actually see do have those properties, because imagination isn't a matter of re-presenting things to our visual systems. It's something else, though it has aspects of that.
In much the same way, when I imagine a song, it doesn't sound like anything... it simply doesn't have those acoustic properties.
Or, well, that's my default state. I've trained (mostly for my own entertainment) to where imagined songs have various acoustic properties for me if I pay close attention to providing them, but typically they don't.
So this is a few months later but I decided to respond anyways because 1) I had answers to many of your questions when I pictured a triangle and 2) my name is also David and "TheOtherDavid" is a name I frequently use online. How's that for typical mind?
Anyways, without even realizing I had done so, when I pictured my triangle, it was: solid, red-orange, matte, opaque, and it had no shadow. As triangles go, that particular form means nothing to me that I am aware of (it's not, for example, a sign I see at work on a regular basis or anything like that) it just happened to be what I imaged. For whatever it may be worth, I read "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch" et al in the appropriate voices in my head, but am unable to produce music or other specific sounds that I am aware of.
Similar to this type of thing, though, I experience fiction almost as a movie both as I am reading it and in retrospect. Even just after I have read a page, I will have no recollection of any of the particular words used to describe the scene, but will be able to recount everything that just happened in detail. It wasn't until I met my wife in the beginning of my time at college that I realized this wasn't how everyone experienced books.