Verbal and non-verbal thinking: features, differences and development

Each person in his thought process relies on visual images, uses certain concepts or concepts. In addition, he is able to think with words. Thus, people use both ways of thinking: with a non-verbal and a verbal component.

All people think about the same action, phenomenon or subject in different ways. Each intellectual style of thinking directly depends on the ability to think with the involvement of visual images (non-verbal type) or abstract sign structures (verbal type).

In psychology, it is believed that verbal (abstract) and non-verbal (spatial) thinking depends on the type of intelligence. Verbal intelligence allows an individual to systematize and carefully analyze the acquired knowledge using a set of words, to master reading, writing and speaking. It reflects verbal and logical thinking. Non-verbal intelligence operates with spatial objects and visual images.

Both kinds of thinking are interconnected. Decrease in one of them affects the other species. Underdeveloped verbal thinking affects the perception and understanding of information. A low level of non-verbal thought process inhibits the development of speech. For example, if a person is poorly oriented when recognizing the shape, size and ratio of an object, then he may get confused in letters that are similar in the image.

This type of thought act is based on visual objects. With its help, a person can find the similarities and differences of the depicted objects and accurately determine their position.The presentation of objects and visual-sensory images arise in the process of perception.

The basis of this type of mental activity is speech. It can be carried out in the process of internal or external reflection. It is natural for a person to reflect the objective world in verbal form. Good command of the word enables a person to convey the desired idea to another person. The inability to express your thoughts in words makes it difficult to communicate with others.

People with well-developed verbal and logical thinking activity have a flexible mind, they can easily switch from one task to solving another problem. They have a rich imagination and a high emotional level, they can freely operate with concepts, judgments and conclusions.

Psychologists believe that people with non-verbal thinking find it difficult to cope with even the simplest tasks presented in symbolic form. Individuals with a verbal type of mental activity difficult to access tasks requiring visual images... But they have the ability to learn foreign languages.

People with non-verbal thinking have a bent in drawing and painting. They are well versed in diagrams and drawings, they can create various designs. With visual thinking, clear images of objects and phenomena emerge in the human brain structures, with a verbal thought process - abstract sign structures.

Thinking is formed in the process of communicating with other people. Both types of thinking contribute to the transfer of information from one person to another. Non-verbal communication is carried out using sign language, facial expressions and movements. Verbal-speech forms are created by means of linguistic constructions.

Speech activity is carried out orally and in writing in the form of a monologue or dialogue. To implement it it is important to study the grammatical and syntactic features of the language, master the lexical (vocabulary) composition.

Verbal thinking helps people know and improve themselves, communicate and interact with other people. It needs to be developed in children from infancy. Children are characterized by visual-figurative thinking, that is, the non-verbal component prevails. Young children pay attention to external and often insignificant signs. The inability to express your thought in words means that the verbal image has not yet been formed.

For the development of the verbal-logical thinking process, preschoolers need to be offered the composition of fairy tales, solving riddles, and retelling cartoons. They must solve simple logical puzzles, explain the meaning of sayings and proverbs. Over time, the child acquires the ability to retell the meaning of the information received. Further education depends on the level that developed at a young age. The earlier the formation of verbal thinking begins, the easier it is for the child to master the educational material.

The development of mental activity in younger schoolchildren goes through a number of stages.

• First, children build their conclusions on the basis of visual premises obtained directly from observation.
• Then inferences are created on the basis of abstract postulates. In doing so, schoolchildren rely on familiar examples and visual material.
• Finally, students are taught how to synthesize data on their own and draw relevant conclusions.

The effectiveness of passing all the stages directly depends on the development of verbal thinking.The child's speech is formed under the influence of communication with others. The development of speech is reflected in the formation of the thought process. There are many effective ways to improve it. Simple group games are good for children and adults.

• The organization of thoughts using clustering implies the selection of a topic, which is fixed on a piece of paper and framed. Then the associations and emotions associated with the word are recorded. Each of them is enclosed in a frame and arrows indicate the connection between them.
• Explaining the meaning of a word to an alien is an effective exercise in developing verbal thought processes. Game participants are invited to imagine a conversation with an alien creature. It is necessary to disclose the content of some phenomenon or object in an accessible language. They start by explaining the meaning of simple words such as "bee", "honey", "flight". Then they take more complex concepts: "success", "luck", "happiness".
• Tongue twisters introduce the richness of the Russian language, help to feel the beauty of pure speech, to delve into new poetic images. To improve verbal thinking, it is recommended to come up with a continuation of 3-4 tongue twisters. The collective game is based on the transmission of tongue twisters along a chain. This type of thinking develops well by independently inventing a new tongue twister.
• Dissent involves renaming an item. For example, a closet is a storage, a radio is a loudspeaker. Non-existent words are allowed. It is best to complete the task during a competitive game. The team that composes more words for the subject wins.
• There is a game called "Abbreviation". Any not too long words that act as an abbreviation are written down in advance on the cards. The players draw one of them. A minute later, they give out a transcript of the word. For example, as a result, the composed phrase may look like this: "fountain" - the magician originally cut fragrant daffodils into tubes.
• Internal dialogue with oneself in various everyday situations trains the verbal act of thinking well... The presence of an internal interlocutor can be when cleaning the apartment, preparing food, choosing clothes for a walk.
• Practice reading, accompanied by the coverage of a large overview of words, promotes the development of this type of thinking.
• Chess make the person think and calculate the moves a few steps forward.