Dave,

Thanks so much for posting this info. I am sure many others will find it useful.

This is on the heel's of Paul's post 213, which also describes how to induce images.

NOTE TO USERS: Dave's previous post appears to be 172. You can use the SHOW ALL button at the bottom and EDIT > SEARCH to find previous posts.

DAVE: Your 172 post is very insightful and, I imagine, quite helpful to non-imagers.

When you say "non-focus" this corresponds exactly to the way Richardson (see my site) describes the way in which spontaneous imagery is generated. Your description of activity (as blocking spontaneous imagery to some extent) also appears to match with the idea that some scientists appear to have little or no imagery.

When you say "choose to see them in a way that visually thinking people take for granted," I believe (speaking for myself) there is a certain amount of choice involved, while some imagery is spontaneous, and other imagery requires effort. Spontaneous includes having "a tune run through your head" or "imagining a pleasant scene at the beach" (aural imagery also counts in widest sense of imagery). Effortful includes "let me see if I can rotate this figure in my head." Some of these include what may be termed "thinking," but this term is controversial in the literature and (as I have pointed out many times) philosophers in general do not accept the idea that one can think (e.g., in the strict sense of the term, as in making deductions) using images. Images are generally understood to be concomitants of thought, but their role is controversial, ranging from epiphenomenal to "symbols and objects in and through which we think" (Price's view). (I lean toward Price's view, the idea that there is a range of applications, according to imagery "types," that generalizations about the role of imagery are difficult -- if not impossible -- to make, and that "imagery" is a question-begging term which often implies that there is linguistic content inherent in the image.) So, while “thinking” captures the way many people feel they use imagery, remembering, imagining, and daydreaming (as you point out in 172) is also very much a part of it -- which I am pretty sure is what you meant by the general term "thinking."

Thanks once again for posting.