When I asked someone this, they say they don’t think of words when they do something like turn the knob of a door to open it. But I think in words and images, and I also don’t think of words when I open a door, because to me it isn’t a thought at all. But is that along the lines of how someone that says they think in concepts thinks? You think about every action you’re doing, just not in words? If there are no words, is it all images, or what actually \*is\* a concept to you?
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So some people have an inner dialogue going, almost like an inner conversation. They may think things like “Ok, grocery list: eggs, milk, cheese etc” or “Oh that’s a nice shirt, I wonder if I should get that for….” so on and so forth. They have an internal conversation, that’s made up of words.
About half the population does not have this inner dialogue. They still have thoughts about what they need from the store, or about what gift to get Aunt Susan etc, but it may instead be via images, or feelings or songs etc…..[Some people have a very vivid “inner eye” which means they can literally picture an Apple in high def…others have “aphantasia”](https://medium.com/@trentg.betham/when-the-minds-eye-sees-nothing-b35950f84e1f)which means they see nothing….but they can still explain what an apple is, draw it etc if asked…they’re the ones “thinking in concepts”.
If you tell me to think of that Apple…I don’t hear a word, I don’t see a picture, but yeah I’m thinking of the apple. I just don’t really have a better way to explain it other than the “concept” of an apple.
When you’re walking someplace, are you constantly thinking “oh I have to put my left foot in front now. And then the right foot”?
Likewise if you have to write an answer on a test, do you just begin writing the answer or do you tell yourself “Alright, I put my pencil down then slide it 45 degrees one way, 45 degrees the next way, put the equals sign which is two lines parallel, then write the number 2 which looks like a little squiggle and a straight line… (X=2)”
The internal monologue or thinking in images is not all of thinking. You do a lot of “thinking in concepts” as well. Some people just use that mode of thinking for more things.
Speaking for myself:
I sometimes think in words – especially if what I’m thinking about IS words – like what I’m about to write, or planning something to say, or so on.
However, when dealing with things that involve moving things or that exist in space, I see what amounts to a wireframe of the thing. It can be a lot hard to describe this; because it kinda works in four dimensions: I can play with a few 4d shapes in my head. I also see maps this way: my head has a low-accuracy phone map (that updates as I move).
The hardest part to put into words is my emotions: they’re colors and shapes and feelings more than words – and while I’ve learned the words to approximate what I’m feeling; it doesn’t always feel like a perfect match. Like, how do you put into one word “my feelings are uncomfortable hot like having your brain and chest over a fire for a little too long but my arms and legs are heavy like trying to move them through water or maybe mud”? (that’s frustration/running out of patience – and specifically when I don’t feel listened to by people who should be listening to me).
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