The Human Brain and Imagery

This is quoted directly from the book by Dr. Suzette Haden Elgin, Ph.D. It involves a bit of trivia for the brain, an important piece of trivia. Our brains, as she states from research, cannot not distinguish sense perceptions that are real world perceptions from those we might visualize or use imagery to "see it in our minds."

If the imagery is "vivid" enough, i.e. the details of the imagery is really descriptive, then it is as if you really experienced the event. The brain cannot tell the difference between a real one and the imagined one. It will send out the same signals and chemicals in both cases, i.e. reality vs. imagined.

She has a term she coins for this type of visualization/imagery, "Creative Visualization." A very important point to place forward here is this title is "sight-biased." Touch dominant persons tend to lose out with this since they often cannot relate to this sight mode title and those mostly sight mode sense instructions. I often express that it was hard to learn and this is why.

In your teachings you may want to be aware when a student states they cannot do visualization they are merely expressing that instructions are convoluted simply because they are transmitted in a sense mode that is not adequate for touch dominant persons ability to assimilate. There is a way for the touch person to create or convert instructions to a form that will be tuned to their learning mode and then can achieve greater results and benefits from "creative visualization."

As a touch dominant person I use imagery. I have been fortunate that I was able to work out how I could do it. It comes mostly from sensing through my body movement when presenting technique I can see the body movement of an imagined opponent moving in such a way that the technique averts the attack and presents an appropriate response.

Dr. Elgin presents, shows, and makes audible several examples of touch techniques to learn imagery or visualization techniques geared to overcome the sight dominance in visual/image training.

Now, this is really a cool thing to know that when we have vivid imaginations in such techniques it is as if the brain actually experienced it. The only thing we have to grab onto is how to experience the actual feel of it, i.e. pain, fear, anger, frustrations, etc.