Close your eyes and if you are a visually oriented person images will begin to appear as you enter Alpha brain states. If your primary representation system is auditory or kinesthetic then you can start the image yourself by imagining or look at a bright light for a few seconds to get some good after images to start with. When you talk about the images you see, do you mean scenes that play out in your imagination like a tv program, or do you mean the shapes and blobs that float in your field of vision when you have your eyes closed, like abstract art. This is a very interesting topic.. [edit] I just read your last post and you said it was dreamlike.. I have a really hard time getting any sort of "visual" scene going in my mind. If I try really hard, I can view something familiar, but it is not very clear and evaporates quickly. In my mind, I always have a constant "dialog" with myself. When I shut my eyes and relax, that is what goes on. I daydream in words that I say to myself, and rarely see images or hear sounds that are not "my voice". Is that uncommon? I have ADD so maybe that has something to do with it.
rtharp - no a tape recorder is not really necessary but I find it helps to have something that is concrete and actually records your voice. Makes it harder to cheat, but your right its not a necessity. brokershopping - It sounds like your are a very auditory person. This is your primary representation system. By no means is it your only one though. Everyone dreams wether they remember it or not and im guessing your just like the rest of us in that your dreams are primarily visual. As far as blobs go that is a good place to start as it can start the dreamlike stream rolling, which is what your really going for. I would suggest you try it a few times before going to bed, often people can stay awake and enter theta states just before sleep that will at least give you an idea of what your shooting for. You also might try using the dialogue in your head as a starting point. Make pictures for the word stream and then let the word stream go if you are able to get a good stream of images. Trust me i know it can be done.... I can image stream and my primary representation system is kinisthetic....only like 10% of the population is this way. Its a pain in the ass. Im mostly a hands on type of guy. To learn things i need to do them over and over till i have a body memory of the task. Makes school and studying a nightmare. Strangely enough my spacial relationship aptitude sucks, which makes understanding the flow of a double auction and level 2 a real brain twister for me. While the more visually inclined people get it in like 2 seconds. In any case I will be a good trader or die trying. Trav.
Do you have any favorite web sites on learning styles and strategies? I have a lot of trouble with learning and recalling info myself. I feel like whatever the biological component is that's responsible for getting info into and out-of my subconsious is running at 9600 baud in a DSL world. Very frustrating. I have improved a lot by studying how I learn. I am VERY global in my learning style. I need to know the 'big picture', then I can fill in the details. Trying to learn by studying details without a 'big picture' is pure futility for me. That is kind of tough when you are trying to learn something that can't be easily expressed globally. For example, I have been trying to learn C++. I did ok until I got to windows programming, and then it lost me. I can't seem to get my mind around it. I will look into the processing styles that you mentioned. Maybe your trick will do me some good!!