When you look at this picture of a goat, what do you see?
Recently, I was shown a picture of a goat which brought with it an instant feeling of nostalgia, a sense of family and warmth. A huge smile appeared on my face. You see while I was looking at a goat, this was not what I was ‘seeing’ and experiencing in that moment. The image triggered childhood memories from having goats on our farm while I was growing up. I remember vividly all the magic that came with watching them being born, learning to milk them, laughing at their antics. The smell of the barns and hay and the sound of our laughter as children resonated deeply within me. The image drew forth feelings of home and family, or warmth and the pleasure of shared experiences. What was in a picture of a goat for me? So much more than just what I could see!
As a coach, I am often in the position of exploring images, symbols, visual metaphors and archetypes as part of someone’s self-discovery journey and transformational work. Supporting someone in uncovering the deeper meanings beneath visual imagery, can provide greater inner clarity and self awareness, bringing deeper "aha" moments and fresh insights into their journey.
But, how and why does this work?
How and why are images, symbols, visual metaphors and archetypes so powerful?
A pictures is worth a thousand words
You may have heard of the old adage a picture is worth a thousand words, or perhaps you know one of the variations; a picture paints or even speaks a thousand words. Whichever version you may know, this simple phrase highlights that images in whatever form can represent and convey complex meanings. And it is these meanings that provide the symbolism underpinning what we make them mean.
It is said that images represent the language of memory and the unconscious; that most mysterious of inner places that while often ignored or discounted, still drives our behaviours, shapes our actions and responses and influences our life choices. We do not always know or ‘remember’ what lurks within the confines of the unconscious and this is where creative coaching with visual imagery, can be a gentle but powerful method for unlocking greater self-awareness. It is through a better understanding of ourselves that we can identify and remove blocks and barriers that hold us back, allowing us to address the reoccurring patterns and challenges that we may be inadvertently creating in our daily lives.
Images instantly connect us to the past, the present and often the future. It is human nature to ascribe rich meanings to imagery and symbols that are sometimes cultural and universally understood, yet others times infinitely personal. The images we are drawn to can hold clues to our own psychological make-up even we are not consciously aware this is happening. The impact of this on our thoughts, emotions, mind and body is not only significant but may be more than we realise.
Research, thinking and evolution
Do you think in pictures or words?
If I said the word dog, tree or even goat, would you think of the visual representations of these or would you think of the word ‘dog’, ‘tree’ and ‘goat’? Okay hands up if you saw them in your head as you read that, they were pictures weren’t they?
The next question though might be, did they stay as simple representational images or did other impressions and memories filter up into your consciousness?
A recent Harvard Medical School research project[1] noted that while humans are capable of thinking in words and images, visual thinking always intrudes into our thoughts and mental processes. Even when trying to think in words visual representations are invoked almost involuntarily, as if our brains were hardwired to prefer an image.
With a huge emphasis placed on words and verbal communication in our interactions, it is sometimes easy to forget that from an evolutionary perspective we experienced our world visually first. In fact our earliest communications were via more visual methods. We need only look back to prehistoric cave paintings as an example. Even today we rely on images and symbols to communicate something; art, photography, paintings, even in texts - emojis anyone?
It could be argued in the modern world, this is down to speed and the need to convey meaning fast. Visual information is constantly flowing to us and our eyes take in new information, which is interpreted and processed by our brains at incredible speeds. In 2014, an MIT research study[2] noted visual information is taken in at a rate of three or four times a second. The research also noted people accurately identify images in as little as 13 milliseconds. I mean am I the only one that thinks just wow! Let’s just say that again 13…milliseconds, 13! To give this some perspective, Davina Bristow at UCL claims that on average we blink around 15 times a minute and each blink last about 100-150 milliseconds[3]. Do I dare say 13 milliseconds once more for effect.
It is little surprise that it is widely held that images and visual information are processed much faster than words[4] which could lead to claims of images being processed with greater efficiency. A quick google and you might find numerous references to further mind boggling facts. Namely, ‘90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual. Visuals are processed 60,000X faster than text”. However, I should point out despite the popularity and appearing many times in google searches, I failed to find the research or origins of either assertion. But, hey, 13 milliseconds!
We have become experts at conveying meaning fast and pictures, symbols and other visual imagery does much of the work for us. Well known take-away logos send us all to the same place for the same food without uttering a word. A picture of a clock or a watch shows us a particular time and provides a sense of time and, you never know, a picture of a kettle or a cup might even get you a drink. In seconds visual imagery tells us what something is and what it represents. Although, anyone that has played Pictionary might want to argue this point.
Yet, it is not all about speed and not just about representation. Images and pictures, visual symbols and metaphors take on a life of their own particularly when combined with what we make them mean. Often our reaction to them has little do with the visual itself and more to do with what this represents in our experience. I don’t know about you, but I can assure you that if you showed me a picture of a spider, or a needle instead of a goat, my reaction would be very different.
But, what does this tell us about ourselves?
What we make pictures, symbols, visual metaphors mean
Research has shown that pictures, images and visual cues produce physiological and psychological responses, and often these occur without conscious thought. For example, some images might trigger involuntary physiological response such as faster more frequent blinking; sweaty palms, changes to our heart rate[5]. Other images may provoke emotional responses[6] which is often employed in advertising, how may of us donated to charity or shopped in John Lewis because of how the visual images within the advert made us feel?
Visual images are emotive and they impact the way that we process emotions and emotional responses[7] which subsequently governs our actions. Images that invoke feelings of anxiety and fear may trigger our fight or flight and survival mechanisms, we are primed in what we see to recognise threats faster[8] and remember them[9]. Visual images we find disgusting grab and hold our attention for longer, which may point to a biological desires avoid disease[10]. Yet, positive images may calm and relax us, allowing us to feel safe and promoting a sense of all being well.
The power of pictures, symbols and visual cues has many implications for our sense of wellbeing and long term mental health, but what about the life impressions that innocuous pictures like goats might generate, why do these work the way they do?
The brain and the unconscious
For any of you that think about the unconscious mind, and lets be honest many of us don’t, it may seem like a part of ourselves shrouded in mystery. An unknown, unreachable aspect of ourselves except in dreams and fantasies.
If any of you are familiar with psychology, you may even have flashbacks to psychoanalysis and good old Freud[11]; his infamous couch where you talk about memories, thoughts and urges. Perhaps you even refer to the more colloquial Freudian slip; those unintentional errors and slip-ups in speech, actions and behaviours that are thought to be unconscious desires bubbling up and out. You may even be forgiven for believing that psychoanalysis and the unconscious is no longer in fashion, a discredited out-of-date notion[12] [13] [14].
Yet, here is the thing, the unconscious is still very much in the game. Unconscious emotional and psychological drivers powerfully and actively shape your thoughts, actions and behaviours. It carries a lot of weight in your life choices even when you are not aware of it. Essentially, what you hold in your unconscious impacts on the way you see and interact with yourself and others, which continually shapes your life in ways you may not even imagine.
If you think about all the life experience you have had to date, it probably already feels like a lifetime. Yet, all these experiences cannot possibly be held in our conscious mind, there are simply too many. At some point our brains make the decision to store some experiences as long-term memories and to let go of what no longer serves us to remember. The emotional intensity we experienced at the time an encounter happened, directly correlates to what is stored and how much of an impact it might continue to have.
The Amygdala and the Hippocampus are the areas of the brain that are engaged with taking sensory information from life experiences, processing it and moving it to long-term memory. The role of the Hippocampus is to consider if the experience warrants committing to memory and the Amygdala assigns the emotional strength to the experience, which impacts on how well or how much of the experience is stored[15].
I rather like the explanation offered by Andréa Watts, founder of Unglue you, who colloquially described the process simply as a kind of conversation “the Hippocampus asks shall we store it? And the Amygdala asks to what emotional degree?” Now personally I get a bit of a kick out of thinking parts of myself converse like this, but even if you don’t, it demonstrates the idea that the mind works collaboratively to store experiences.
As humans we possess the ability to remember our past, consider our present and project ourselves into the future, hypothesising and attributing actions and consequences to our own behaviour responses and that of others[16]. This shapes the way we respond to situations and governs our thoughts, actions, behaviours and life choices, whether we are aware of this or not.
Your brain does not distinguish between what is happening now, what is remembered, visual representations or even visualisations or imaginings. The information is translated in just the same way. Remember our brains our hardwired for visual thinking!
Connecting with a picture or image that for some reason triggers an unconscious unexpected response, can provide clues to unearthing the deeper emotions, dreams, memories and thoughts, behind why we do what we do and behave in the way that we do; even when something feels unrelated. Here is where deep self-growth and development work can occur. When we understand that unexpected responses to images may just be clues from our unconscious that something else is happening here, it encourages us to dig a little deeper. Finding out what that is can be the difference between remaining stuck in old patterns, or moving forward with confidence and ease. Even just the fact of bringing something into our conscious mind can depower its influence in our life.
The language of the unconscious can be difficult to access and does rely on us using the language of the mind, metaphors and visual thinking[17]. Therefore, this is the main purpose around creative coaching techniques that work with visual imagery. You draw on the images that speak to you even if you are not sure why, then through coaching you explore what you might be making them mean. The process is gentle, powerful and you set the pace so you are not overwhelmed by confronting things you are not ready to address. The process is deep, personal, hugely transformational and empowering.
If you would like to know more about how images, symbols and visual metaphors might support you in your journey of self-discovery please get in touch.
Or if you would like to book a self-discovery board session with me to experience working with visual imagery you can book here.
But, to finish I will leave you with a final question, just what is in a goat?
References
[1] Amit, E. et al. (2017) ‘An asymmetrical relationship between verbal and visual thinking: Converging evidence from behavior and fMRI’, NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.), 152, pp. 619–627.
[2] Potter, M.C. et al. (2014) ‘Detecting meaning in RSVP at 13 ms per picture’, Attention, perception & psychophysics, 76(2), pp. 270–279.
[3]Blink and you miss it. Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2005/jul/blink-and-you-miss-it
[4] Walker, M. et al. (2017) ‘Differential Processing for Actively Ignored Pictures and Words’, PloS one, 12(1), pp. e0170520–e0170520.
[5] Bernat, E. et al. (2006) ‘Effects of picture content and intensity on affective physiological response’, Psychophysiology, 43(1), pp. 93–103.
[6] Bernat, E. et al. (2006) ‘Effects of picture content and intensity on affective physiological response’, Psychophysiology, 43(1), pp. 93–103.
[7] Bernat, E. et al. (2006) ‘Effects of picture content and intensity on affective physiological response’, Psychophysiology, 43(1), pp. 93–103.
[8] Weinberg, A. and Hajcak, G. (2010) ‘Beyond Good and Evil: The Time-Course of Neural Activity Elicited by Specific Picture Content’, Emotion (Washington, D.C.), 10(6), pp. 767–782.
[9] Quinlan, P.T., Yue, Y. and Cohen, D.J. (2017) ‘The processing of images of biological threats in visual short-term memory’, Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences, 284(1861), pp. 20171283–20171283.
[10] Shirai, R. and Watanabe, K. (2024) ‘Visual images of disgusting creatures facilitated attentional orienting and delayed attentional disengagement’, Cognitive processing, 25(1), pp. 53–60.
[11] Snowden, R. (2017) Freud: the key ideas : an introduction to Freud's pioneering work on psychoanalysis, sex, dreams and the unconscious. [New]. London: Teach Yourself.
[12] Yeung, A.W.K. (2021) ‘Is the Influence of Freud Declining in Psychology and Psychiatry? A Bibliometric Analysis’, Frontiers in psychology, 12, pp. 631516–631516.
[13] Tallis, F. (2024) ‘We should still pick up the pearls: on the scientific status of Freud’, Brain (London, England : 1878), 147(4), pp. 1115–1117.
[14] Newell, B.R. and Shanks, D.R. (2023) Open Minded: Searching for Truth about the Unconscious Mind. 1st edn. Cambridge: MIT Press.
[15] Nanda, U., Zhu, X. and Jansen, B.H. (2012) ‘Image and Emotion: From Outcomes to Brain Behavior’, HERD, 5(4), pp. 40–59.
[16] Buckner, R.L., and Carroll, D.C. (2007) ‘Self-projection and the brain’. Trends in Cognitive Science, 11(2), pp.49-57.
[17] Bento, R.F., and Nilsson, W.O., (2009) Visual Metaphors: A New Language for Discovery and Dialogue. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254967238_Visual_Metaphors_A_New_Language_for_Discovery_and_Dialogue
Brilliant 😁