I am autistic, which I think contributes to my memory and my sensory imagination, and have anxiety and OCD* which makes it functionally impossible to stop all thoughts on command.
WRT sensory imagination, I’ve thought before that I can imagine the texture of almost any surface just by looking at this, which I imagine is a combination of a strong sensory memory (autism) and a large “texture bank” to draw from. My taste/smell imagination is weaker than my other senses probably because I use it less frequently.
I can do the thing where you can think in other people’s voices. When I’ve been listening to an audiobook my internal monologue often shifts into the voice of the narrator for a few hours at time, though I can switch into it at which. Interestingly, though, I find this much harder to do with people I’m close to. My inner monologue can carry itself out in the voice of Eneasz Brodski (narrator of the HPMOR podcast) with no issue, but I can barely replicate my girlfriend’s voice at all.
I have one or two entire movies memorized (The Incredibles and the Princess Bride, and bits and pieces of others) and I can “watch” these in my head if I really focus, though the audio is about 95% accurate and the visuals are closer to 70%.
*Diagnosed, though I’m not entirely sure it’s accurate.
I am autistic, which I think contributes to my memory and my sensory imagination, and have anxiety and OCD* which makes it functionally impossible to stop all thoughts on command.
WRT sensory imagination, I’ve thought before that I can imagine the texture of almost any surface just by looking at this, which I imagine is a combination of a strong sensory memory (autism) and a large “texture bank” to draw from. My taste/smell imagination is weaker than my other senses probably because I use it less frequently.
I can do the thing where you can think in other people’s voices. When I’ve been listening to an audiobook my internal monologue often shifts into the voice of the narrator for a few hours at time, though I can switch into it at which. Interestingly, though, I find this much harder to do with people I’m close to. My inner monologue can carry itself out in the voice of Eneasz Brodski (narrator of the HPMOR podcast) with no issue, but I can barely replicate my girlfriend’s voice at all.
I have one or two entire movies memorized (The Incredibles and the Princess Bride, and bits and pieces of others) and I can “watch” these in my head if I really focus, though the audio is about 95% accurate and the visuals are closer to 70%.
*Diagnosed, though I’m not entirely sure it’s accurate.