On Wed, Aug 14, 2002 at 10:40:03PM -0700, Steven Brust wrote: > At 12:20 AM 8/15/2002 -0500, Kat wrote: > > >Language is one of the ways in which we think. Another that comes to mind > >is > >spatial > I'm not certain what it means to think spatially. Unfortunately I'm not sure I can describe it properly... it's like having a 3-dimensional modelling program in one's head. It isn't just working with visual symbols (i.e., a visual language), it's having a representation of an object, or several objects within a space, and being able to manipulate that representation in the same way one might physically manipulate the objects themselves. For me, at least, there is no language involved. Two other examples of which I can produce - when I'm driving, I'm processing what's going on around me in a purely spatial sense, noting the relative speeds of as many vehicles as possible in my general vicinity, changes in their direction, etc. In this case there almost isn't an internal representation, just external sensory input to which I respond in such a manner that my vehicle doesn't end up in a space that's already occupied or will imminently be occupied by someone else. The second is in a martial art, aikido in my case. Processing all of the factors that make up a person's stability and balance, and pinpointing the vector(s) along which sufficient applied force will change that balance in a desired manner, is entirely non-lingual for me. Hope that helps. > When I drum, I don't think, "Hit the bass, hit the snare, keep > the ride going..." I am thinking in drum terms, which don't directly > translate into language. Yet, the more I learn, the more skill I develop > in mentally working with those symbols. As I "speak the language" better, > I drum better. Being a percussionist, I know *exactly* what you're talking about. ;) Tsarren