I am a visual person. I understand most concepts by picturing them somehow. Sometimes the image is very literal and sometimes it's a more symbolic representation of a concept. My brain has has not, however, learned how to visualize numbers in a conceptual way. It makes life as a scientist difficult at times.
When I think of a number, I picture it -- written on a page, as a puffy helium balloon, as a tick label on a graph axis. Some of the numbers that have similar shapes, like 3, 6, and 8 get kind of muddled up. Same with 1, 7, and 9. I have heard some people say that they assign colors or genders to numbers and that helps keep them sorted. I can kind of relate to this because my brain loads some words with an unrelated sound in a way that's difficult to explain, but helps me process and remember words. I think this might be a very mild form of the intriguing phenomenon synesthesia, which is "a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway." I think I first heard about synestheisa when FSP described her perception of letters in color, which sounds just amazing.
Unfortunately, I confront numbers in my work every single day. Tables can be challenging. I frequently mentally convert entries in a table to bar graphs in order to compare values. It can be a little embarrassing because I seldom remember important numbers from my own research. Someone will ask, "how fast did x process occur?" and I will have to picture one of my figures with enough resolution to see the axis. I usually have to check my notes before I can give a reliable answer. Only the simplest values or the ones that I read/write the most often get stored long-term, but they are usually saved by rote memorization and lose their meaning.
Interestingly, I really like math. I like that nature can be described with numbers and mathematical concepts. My difficulty remembering numbers is not part of a larger problem with math or learning. Just memorizing. When I was little, I had a really hard time mastering my times tables and so everyone thought I'd be lousy at math, but once I got to algebra I rocked out.
It's funny how you can learn to deal with your weaknesses. I think it's also important to remember that just because someone has a specific weakness does not mean they can't handle a larger challenge. And that something that seems really important at one stage, like learning multiplication tables, quickly becomes small potatoes. I think I'll try to remember that as I struggle with writing my dissertation.
20 comments:
Fascinating that so many of us women science bloggers are synesthetic!
Some of the numbers that have similar shapes, like 3, 6, and 8 get kind of muddled up. Same with 1, 7, and 9. I have heard some people say that they assign colors or genders to numbers and that helps keep them sorted. I can kind of relate to this because my brain loads some words with an unrelated sound in a way that's difficult to explain, but helps me process and remember words.
How weird - I do that too.
For instance "less" and "size" get mixed up. I know the difference in meaning, sound and spelling, but can distinctly recall studying for a grade school spelling bee and trying to look up "less" under "S".
Is this synesthesia? I had no idea.
I have BIG issues with numbers, and I sort of thought that was one of the reasons I actually shouldn't be a scientist. One of my impostor-fears. I am soooo glad to hear other people have it as well. My trouble is that I don't assign values to digits. For me, doing math is multiplying cows with chicken, sort of. I never remember results of my on analyses, and always carry a Moleskin with me, to check my numbers when I talk with somebody aboutit....
To me numbers have different personalities. For instance 5 and 9 are very arrogant numbers, and 3 is brave, 7 is a loner.
I have however no real troubles with math. But I do share your issues with remembering numbers, and I agree that it can be embarrasing. When people theorize about a process and state that an x amount is normal and then ask "so how much did you find in your experiment?" I have no idea of even the magnitude.
It's interesting to see how we all have different techniques to deal with numbers!
I thought everyone assigned personalities/genders to numbers! So, that could be a form of synesthesia? Hmm
I have the same problem with remembering numbers, though. So, I don't know how much doing so helps.
I looked at the wikipedia, and am really surprised to find out that what I thought was a personal little funny thing about me is really common! It is extremely interesting! Thanks for bringing this up!
I'm good at math, very good at visualizing things, but not as good at remembering numbers - especially of amounts I've spent on any item. So people will ask, how much did the computer, camera, car, yada yada cost, and I have to say I absolutely have no idea. (Well, maybe not for the car!)
And long ago in high school, I had favorite numbers (which didn't have personalities), and if I didn't know a multiple choice answer, I'd go with the favorite, after eliminating as many wrong answers as possible. So 3 was better than 2 and 1 and 5 (if none/all of above) - and 4 was the absolute worst. I did really well with system until 2nd quarter chemistry in college, when I started eliminating the right answers due to faulty chem-logic.
I no longer hate the number 4.
Wow! I just checked the wiki page for synesthesia and I definitely do the "number form" synesthesia. 0 to 20 march in a straight line toward me, then the sequence takes an abrupt left turn right before it reaches me, continues in this direction until 100 when the sequence makes a 90 degree right turn and marches on toward infinity. There might be more turns but I don' usually count that high.
Months of the year do something similar. I always assumed that everyone did this! I've also always been secretly jealous of people who associated colors/sounds/numbers. I wish I did that - it sounds way more interesting the spatial locations for numbers.
I'd hate to have numbers marching at me. That would give me claustrophobia, I think! I didn't know it was considered synesthesia to have numbers or years located in a spatial way. My calendar goes in a circle, with the current month always on the lower part of the circle, that month right side up so I can zoom in on it easily. The others are semi radial away from an empty center. It's more oval than circular, flatter towards the right and left. Hmmm...
a very interesting topic.
Silver Fox - my calendar is of a similar shape...but there is a large gap between December and January. And instead of the calendar rotating to accommodate, my perspective of it changes depending on the month we're in (I actually view it from "inside" the month if that makes any sense).
Numbers marching toward me isn't any fun (though when I'm not particularly stressed I can view them from above rather than at their level, though the are still heading in my general direction, which is less claustrophobic). I'd never thought about it before but I do prefer numbers over 20. They don't have personalities - I always assumed that it was because the nomenclature makes more sense (twenty-two is far more logical than twelve as far as names go and this is true in most western languages). But maybe it's also because 0 through 20 march towards me and that can be kind of threatening. Weird.
My calendar is round, going anti-clockwise with december and january on top and june and july on bottom. People think I'm nuts.
wow, this is really intersting...I never really thought about having synesthesia with numbers, I think I have that too though rather than the mentioned personalities or space they are often in a blob in conjuction with letters...and sometimes numbers associate with emotions. I think some people go to sleep counting sheeps, well it worked for a while with me while I concentrated on counting the numbers in all the languages that I knew until they started dancing with each other...then I changed to counting backwards from 999 which also worked for about a week, then they started fighting for my attention with the a story....oh yeah that reminds me, the number 6 always comes before 7 which is frequently absent....
This is fascinating! I don't think I do this, even a little bit. But it's so cool to hear all your stories!
My calendar also goes counter-clockwise, and the default position is December at the far left, and the summer-break months, June-July-August, at the far right. But like I said, the perspective rotates through a given year. I don't know if this helps me "find" memories in time, like summers of childhood, or not. But I think it does. Somehow.
HGG, obviously I don't think you're nuts! Either that, or we both are...
I always wondered why 5 was such a b*tch!
My husbands godmother is a painter with synesthesia. She listens to music and paints what she sees so all her pieces come with a cd as well as the artwork. It is so fascinating!
Haha, this calendar thing is really interesting and funny...
My calendar goes also anti-clockwise, but with December and January at the bottom and June/July at the top. For a long time I was thinking that this is somehow the natural form to imagine a year, but then I realised that there is really no rational reason why it should be like that.
I always wondered how other people imagine the months of a calendar... :)
As for other numbers, sometimes I look at them as being on a number line, but this is mostly only if I have to think about intervals/differences.
Wow, I had no idea this topic would generate so much interesting conversation, or that so many people shared my experience. Fascinating! I wonder if this is more common for scientists than among the general population, or if everybody does weird brain stuff with numbers.
My first thought was "what the hell is everyone talking about?" It's interesting to read everyone else's experiences, since I'm not familiar with this.
wow, that's interesting, I don't think I do this at all... my numbers are just numbers. Now I feel boring.
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