what if you imagine something and then write it down like say.... authors of fictional books.... their crazy elaborate stories are products of their imagination
Feb-07-2008 20:55
Flec
*********
Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Toronto,Canada
and also, the human mind can only give focus to so many things at once, whether these things are inputs from your imagination or from your real senses .... you would have just as much trouble recalling the details of a real scene/situation versus one that was imagined
^^^ how many times do you watch a movie over again and catch something you missed the first time, or go somewhere often but only after many visits see something you never noticed before
Feb-07-2008 20:58
Arbiter
Naked Power Organ
Registered: May 2002
Location:
Imagination, recollection, and similar cognitive processes where the image being "perceived" is entirely internal generally use a high degree of abstraction. This is not a bad thing at all; it keeps the cognitive load relately low and allows us to focus on the relatively few important details rather than getting caught up in the innumerable minutiae.
I tend to think, however, that imagination is not so much limited in that regard as it is underdeveloped. There are few situations where it would be advantageous to override that abstraction and actually created an extremely detailed "imagining," and as a consequence most people rarely, if ever, seek to do so. It should come as no surprise, then, that it does not come naturally to those people.
Feb-07-2008 21:19
kadomony
FRENCH EXPRESS
Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Philly
Imagination is a semi-conscious process.
Our subconscious uses symbolism to communicate but as we're awake, we don't get that much detail from it.
If you were to be hypnotized and THEN told to imagine a businessman boarding a subway, I bet it would be MUCH more detailed.
An interesting note: some people (I forget the technical term for it) can remember every minute detail about a memory.
Originally posted by kadomony
An interesting note: some people (I forget the technical term for it) can remember every minute detail about a memory.
Eidetic memory.
Feb-07-2008 21:44
nchs09
Traceaddict in training
Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Inside your mum
Are you kidding? books paint such a vivid image that you can see, feel and sense every aspect of it. At least thats what good writers do...
Now i have not encountered a great writer in my time.. but reading books from great novelist from back in the day is like watching a movie x100000
___________________
quote:
Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On
OOKA-OOKA ME NACHOS ME PRESS KEYS ON COMPUTER GOOD
Feb-07-2008 21:45
Project-K
JD ëtictsile
Registered: Feb 2007
Location: Laval, Quebec
quote:
Originally posted by nchs09
Are you kidding? books paint such a vivid image that you can see, feel and sense every aspect of it. At least thats what good writers do...
Now i have not encountered a great writer in my time.. but reading books from great novelist from back in the day is like watching a movie x100000
Good point.
And if you want crazy detail, go read James Joyce's Ulysses.
___________________
When bread becomes toast, it can never go back to being bread again.
Feb-07-2008 21:49
Jarvmeister
Building a fire......
Registered: May 2001
Location: Trancentral
Re: The limits of imagination
quote:
Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
Any thoughts?
The point of a good piece of writing is that the key points will be emphasized, and the other details you can let your own imagination make up. If a businessman is boarding a train, often it's not important what the rest of the carriage are doing.