[f7b5]

When I was first introduced to mental visualization, I thought I couldn't do it because I struggled to clearly picture something as simple as an apple - or any other familiar object - in my mind. But with practice, the images slowly became clearer and more stable. Through continued practice, I was able to visualize more complex things, like text and even music sheets - which is kind of a cheat code, because you can memorize what you can visualize.

Something else I learned is that mental imagery[1] isn’t limited to just visual experiences. As a musician, I use it to hear intervals, hear the strong beat, hear chords, different timber / sound textures etc. You can also "visualize" smells, physical sensations, and more. I clearly see it as a skill that improves with time and effort.

One nice trick is being able to visualize conversations, dialogues, interviews etc. I believe it dramatically helped me overcome stress in those situations, as well as in performance.

[1] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mental-imagery/

[bbor]

It’s absolutely amenable to practice, I agree. I don’t personally see it as an improvement to a cognitive ability like learning a concept/practice is, but rather as training yourself to notice. I’ve been known to infuriate many a (web-)philosopher of mind by insisting that aphantasia isn’t nearly as common as it seems to be based on self reports; instead, I think many people don’t have the ingrained tendency to notice the images present in the corners of their mind. The shakiness tells me it’s almost definitely an accidentally-evolved capacity, so they’re probably the more normal ones! Or natural, at least.

I do think there’s a better way to practice than this tho:

  the best way for me to improve a visualization is to research all the different tools and diagrams out there

Namely—and I say this with complete seriousness-psychedelic drugs, above all else LSD. I’m very dubious of the Steve Jobs of the world claiming it changed their intellectual outlook, but in terms of resolving “visual noise” based on intentional parameters, it can’t be beat. That’s what LSD visualizations mostly consist of in the first place, and a lesser form of the effect lasts for months after one dose, and indefinitely (forever?) after regularish usage. It’s non addictive and has a brutally steep tolerance curve that lasts for 2-4w, so “regular usage” means once every few months for a year or two, not every day.

Long story short: if you want to be a better programmer, contact your local felon today! Surely y’all are cooler than me and have cool felon friends…

[Tostino]

For the simple country folk, a cow or horse pasture may have exactly what you are looking for.

I don't condone picking unknown fungus from fields...don't go die from picking the wrong thing.

[alfonsodev]

Thanks for sharing this! Do you have any additional resources that helped you achieving this? How long did it take you ? How much time did you invested ? If you can remember.

[f7b5]

Unfortunately I never found much resources on how to practice it. I had this piano teacher who was fond of it and claimed being able to visualize the piano ( whole keyboard, how opened it was, the sheet stand, the texture of the keys etc. ), the sheet with its content for both hands, his hands, feeling his posture, feeling his feet on the pedals, feeling his hands move and hear the sound it should make.

I didn't achieve this level yet, but I'm 100% sure it's genuine, the guy could sing and play to prove he could see / hear / feel what he said.

Some learning process, applied to music were :

- Learning a tune with the music sheet away from the piano. The process is to imagine yourself playing it when you're looking at the music and try to hear it. Then, walk to the piano and try to visualize the sheet while playing it.

- The opposite : improvising and trying to visualize what you're improvising. At first you can just imagine the note on the staff, then enrich it with rhythm, putting it at the correct octave, add the left hand etc.. etc..

- Another one, which was quite crazy is that when you actually visualize a piece of music, you can try to play it in backward ( note and rhythm included ), or transpose it in your head and play it transposed.

As a matter of fact, this enabled me to learn some tunes in the train, and being able to play them with confidence the first time on the piano ( which is obvious because I had played them around 20x time in my head )

At this time I was playing around 6 to 8 hours a day, but I was able to actively work on that skill ~30 minutes a day, in the morning. I was unable to practice this when tired, or when I had drank alcohol the previous day, or when stressed. I also found that having a simple 10 minute meditation routine helped a lot focusing for this kind of work.

It took 1 month until I felt the first "improvements" and around 5/6 years until I could reliably use it. To this day I still thinks it helps me memorize faster and more reliably, and I feel like it gives me more ability to process stuff in my head. Consistency seem to be key for it to stick.

[iman453]

I haven't spent enough time on it but a good Youtube video I'd found was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4xFVJTyJZg