Unlocking the Mind for Verbal Thinkers: How BioGraffs Expands Conceptualization Beyond Words
I have aphantasia. For those of you who haven’t heard the term, aphantasia is the inability to form mental images. This affects about 3% of the population. In my head it's all words and language and stuff that's not really identifiable, but nothing like images. My imagination doesn’t come with the visual fireworks that many others experience. I rely heavily on language to think through just about everything. I'm a verbal thinker.
Could this be part of the reason I created BioGraffs? Perhaps in creating a tool that helps represent ideas visually, I may have been trying to fill a gap in my own cognitive toolkit. I'm beginning to suspect that BioGraffs resonates particularly well with verbal thinkers—people who are, like me, more in their heads, narrating their lives, engaging in a near constant monologue.
I think BioGraffs has a lot to offer the verbal thinkers of the world as a transformative way to engage with your thoughts by stepping outside the confines of language. By using visual metaphors and creative representation, verbal thinkers can unlock new ways to understand themselves, breaking free from the rigid patterns of inner speech and monologue.
Here's a test designed by psychologist Linda Silverman to see where you fall on the verbal/visual spectrum of thinking:
Do you think mainly in pictures instead of words?
Do you know things without being able to explain how or why?
Do you remember what you see and forget what you hear?
Can you visualize objects from different perspectives?
Would you rather read a map than follow verbal directions?
More yes answers mean you are more of a visual thinker.
Here’s how BioGraffs helps verbal thinkers expand beyond words.
The Limits of Language: Verbal Thinkers’ Inner Monologue
As verbal thinkers, many of us experience our thought processes as a constant stream of words, similar to the "phonological loop" described by psychologist Ethan Kross. This inner monologue can be useful for problem-solving and organizing thoughts, but it can also lead to overthinking or negative "chatter." Kross notes that verbal thinkers tend to focus heavily on their own experiences, emotions, and needs, which can create a sense of being trapped in a one-person mental performance. This resonates with me for sure!
Verbal thinking is a linear process, often relying on logical progression—thinking through problems step by step, in the same way one would follow the lines in a book. This reliance on words, however, can make it difficult to step back and view your thoughts holistically, especially when you’re entrenched in a particular mental script.
BioGraffs provides a way to move beyond this linearity by offering visual organization and metaphor that can help verbal thinkers organize their thoughts spatially and conceptually, outside the familiar terrain of language.
Visual Thinking and Verbal Thinkers: Two Sides of the Same Coin
In her book Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions, Temple Grandin explores how visual thinkers organize information differently than verbal thinkers. Visual thinkers—those who think in concrete images or patterns—can juxtapose and revise these mental images to arrive at solutions in ways that verbal thinkers typically do not. Grandin proposes that visual thinkers have been sidelined in a world dominated by verbal processing, leading to a lack of creativity and ingenuity.
What does this mean for verbal thinkers? Although your default mode might be language, visual thinking isn’t out of reach. In fact, integrating visual tools, like BioGraffs, into your thought process can offer a bridge between these two modes of thinking. It allows you to shift from simply talking through problems to seeing them from a different perspective.
BioGraffs uses visual metaphors to represent complex ideas, offering a new dimension of insight that can complement your verbal reasoning.
Getting Out of Your Head: How BioGraffs Helps You Visualize Thoughts
For verbal thinkers, the mental process can feel abstract—an endless loop of internal dialogue that sometimes leads to more confusion than clarity. As Russell T. Hurlburt discovered through his research on inner experiences, some people’s thoughts are predominantly expressed through inner speech, while others think in images or even unsymbolized thinking—thoughts that aren’t tied to words or images.
By externalizing your thoughts through BioGraffs, you’re not just organizing your ideas, but you’re also getting them “out of your head,” where you can physically engage with them. Instead of describing your inner monologue in words, you can use symbols or patterns to show how one thought connects to another.
These visual representations provide an alternative to verbal narration, helping you explore complex issues in a way that’s less constrained by the limitations of language.
Enhancing Self-Understanding: BioGraffs as a Reflective Tool
In moments of self-reflection, verbal thinkers might find themselves replaying the same conversations and narratives. For those who think mainly in words, it can be easy to fall into repetitive thought patterns.
BioGraffs interrupts these patterns by encouraging reflection through non-verbal means. The process of creating a BioGraffs visualization forces you to engage with your thoughts in a more tactile and creative way, helping you see connections or contradictions you might otherwise miss. The act of “building” your thoughts into a story through visual metaphors makes the process of self-reflection more dynamic, providing new insights that verbal thinking alone might not reveal.
From Chatter to Clarity: How BioGraffs Calms the Verbal Mind
One of the challenges of verbal thinking is managing the "chatter" that can dominate the mind. When you’re stuck in a loop of overthinking, it can feel impossible to find a way out.
Kross recommends techniques like “distanced self-talk,” which involves speaking to yourself in the third person, as a way to calm the inner voice. BioGraffs goes a step further by helping you step out of the verbal framework altogether. By translating your inner thoughts into symbols, patterns, or visual metaphors, BioGraffs quiets the chatter and allows you to see your mental landscape from a new vantage point.
Verbal thinkers often benefit from externalizing their thoughts in some form, whether through journaling, talking with a friend, or using visual tools. BioGraffs provides a structured yet creative way to externalize thoughts, offering a tangible representation of your mental processes. This can bring relief and clarity, as you shift from the constant monologue of words to a more holistic understanding of your inner experience.
A New Way of Thinking for Verbal Minds
BioGraffs can be a powerful tool for verbal thinkers who are ready to step beyond words. By giving you a different way to conceptualize your inner story, BioGraffs expands your ability to think creatively, reflect deeply, and escape the confines of language. It offers a new way to see your thoughts and, in doing so, gives you a fresh perspective on yourself. For verbal thinkers, BioGraffs is more than just a tool—it’s a key to unlocking new dimensions of understanding.
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