AnnaMarie Houlis
There’s no one right way that we learn.
Humans absorb and retain information in all sorts of ways. One of those ways is image streaming.
Image streaming is a successful strategy for many types of learners. Here’s everything you should know about it, from how it works to how to hone in on it to memorize more.
What Is Image Streaming?
Image streaming is a method of examining images in your mind. Basically, it refers to picturing things in your head. And, when you create different pictures in your mind and sift through them, that is the practice of streaming.
Image streaming, as a concept, is largely attributed to Win Wenger. In his book, The Einstein Factor, he says that image streaming “consists of describing aloud, in as much detail as possible, to a live listener or an audience, or to a tape recorder as [a] potential audience—while observing the ongoing stream of sensory imagery of all kinds.”
Image streaming is a common meditative practice. It has been used amongst Buddhist monks and ancient Indian yogis alike. For as long as time, people—and philosophies—have leveraged image streaming to both calm and expand the mind.
Many people with strong image streaming skills are also visual learners. That’s because they rely so heavily on visuals when they’re thinking about or unpacking different concepts.
What Is a Visual Learner?
A visual learner is someone who absorbs information best that they can visualize. Visual learners are “show, don’t tell” types of people. They learn best when they can interact and engage with visual images like photos, diagrams, graphs and videos.
Who Are Some Famous Visual Learners?
Some of the most well-known geniuses were visual learners. Here are some visual learners you likely didn’t know you know:
- Albert Einstein – This super-scientist’s IQ is estimated to be somewhere between 160 and 180. His discoveries like the theory of relativity, the photoelectric effect, gravity—all of it—come from his visual learning abilities.
- Pablo Picasso – Picasso’s cubism and modern art largely a product of visual and spatial intelligence.
- Leonardo Da Vinci – Da Vinci was a wearer of many hats as a painter, musician, investor, engineer and more, thanks to his creativity and visual learning abilities.
- Frank Lloyd Wright – This famous architect grew up playing with cubes, spheres and shapes, according to his autobiography, which suggests that he had strong visual learning skills from the time he was a kid.
- Georgia O’Keeffe – This American painter mastered abstract art, combining water and oil color on canvas—a testament to her visual-spatial skills.
- Steven Speilburg – No major film director, producer or screenwriter could make it as far as Steven Spielberg did without an eye for visuals and a creative mind.
Benefits of Image Streaming
There are many benefits of image streaming, beyond the obvious increased creativity, reasoning skills and problem-solving capabilities. For one, Wenger believes that image streaming actually improves your intelligence quotient (IQ). On average, he says that every hour spent on image streaming ups your IQ by 0.8 points.
One reason that image streaming could strengthen your smarts is because it activates various parts of your brain. Visualizing, alone, uses different brain regions that must work together to mimic the part of the brain that’s activated when we actually see things in real life.
“Visual imagery and visual perception draw on most of the same neural machinery,” researchers explain. In other words: Your brain functions in many of the same ways when you’re looking at an image as when you’re imagining it.
Because image streaming is a form of meditation, it can also help destress you. Because you focus your attention on the specificities of the images in your mind, you steer clear of the clutter that may be causing stress. A wealth of mindfulness research proves that meditation, including image streaming, can reduce stress, anxiety and depression.
Another major benefit of image streaming is a stronger memory—especially for visual learners. Image streaming can help you see and, therefore, visually digest concepts. This, of course, can help you understand them better. And a greater understanding of a concept can help you remember it easier.
How to Practice Image Streaming
Practicing image streaming is simple. Follow these three steps to image stream successfully.
Step 1: Find a quiet place to sit or lay down, close your eyes and think.
First things first, you need to find somewhere that you have the space to image stream. This should be somewhere quiet with few distractions. Image streaming requires your full attention, so being somewhere comfortable and quiet is key.
Once you find a space that’s inviting, sit or lay down and close your eyes. Consider the piece of information that you’re trying to learn or memorize. If it’s a story, for example, visualize the plot of it line by line.
Step 2: Record yourself speaking the details of the images in your mind aloud.
Once you close your eyes, speak aloud the details of the images that crop up in your mind. Describe all of the senses that the images evoke. The idea is to get as detailed as possible.
For example, if you’re imagining Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall, talk about what Humpty Dumpty looks like. What is he wearing? How exactly is he sitting? What does the wall look like? How tall is it? Where is the wall?
As you stream through images in your mind, do the same for each one.
Step 3: Review your recording to dig up more details.
Once you’re done image streaming, review your recording. Relistening to the images you described may summon even more thoughts of other details.
You can use image streaming to help you remember all sorts of pieces of information. Whether you want to memorize song lyrics or a speech, learn a new language’s vocabulary, strengthen a skill at work or remember the names of people at a party, image streaming can help you. Visualizing the information you want to remember, and describing it aloud in detail, can help to solidify it in your memory.
To support you in your journey of improving your memory, tools like Dorothy exist. All you have to do is tell Dorothy what you want to learn, and then Dorothy will tell you when it’s time to study it so you don’t forget it over time. You can easily pair using a tool like Dorothy with other techniques like image streaming to supercharge your memory.