I have met people who think in pictures without a history of head injury. However, I take note when someone has a similar experience to mine (brain damage is not my only issue).
If we were having a verbal conversation, I would start to ask questions about your experiences based on what I know about you. Basically to find out how far the rabbit hole goes in terms of similarities. Even if someone is high-achieving, they can be totally unaware of the connection between (issue x) and a (known or unknown) head injury - they've found ways to compensate that aren't maladaptive, although not necessarily the best because they don't know the cause.
Even so, if there is no head injury at all - thinking in pictures is fairly unique to hear about, and people who think in pictures usually have different ways of dealing with information than word-thinkers.
What I wonder is how you are able to formulate all that, quite eloquently, without thinking with words. It seems that words come into play at some level, and then it’s unclear to me what the qualitative difference is to how I internally experience my thinking.
The words come, but only momentarily. Once I have the words typed out, I can think about their meaning and arrangement. I reread what I type and let the words build a picture in my mind. If the picture is missing something, I add it.
It has taken a long time to develop my skills. My early internet comments are a confusing mess.
In verbal conversation, I have a lot of shortcuts. I'm often described as "very quiet." I can only speak... probably 5 percent of what I'm trying to say, mostly.
If we were having a verbal conversation, I would start to ask questions about your experiences based on what I know about you. Basically to find out how far the rabbit hole goes in terms of similarities. Even if someone is high-achieving, they can be totally unaware of the connection between (issue x) and a (known or unknown) head injury - they've found ways to compensate that aren't maladaptive, although not necessarily the best because they don't know the cause.
Even so, if there is no head injury at all - thinking in pictures is fairly unique to hear about, and people who think in pictures usually have different ways of dealing with information than word-thinkers.