Visual thinking
Although Whorf himself framed linguistic relativity in terms of "habits of mind" rather than determinism, the revolutionary nature of his hypothesis was met with much misinterpretation and criticism.
In 1969, Brent Berlin and Paul Kay rejected the strong hypothesis using a color terminology study.
The right [non-verbal] hemisphere perceives, thinks, remembers, reasons, wills and emotes, all at a characteristically human level.
[citation needed] Spatial-temporal reasoning is the ability to visualize special patterns and mentally manipulate them over a time-ordered sequence of spatial transformations.
[citation needed] VTS allows teachers to teach reading with the use of complex visuals, rather than the print and individual text forms used in the past.
[citation needed] Orton suggested that individuals have difficulty associating the visual with the verbal form of words, in 1925.
[citation needed] Further studies, using technologies (PET and MRI), and wider and varied user groups in various languages, support the earlier findings.
[citation needed] Visual-spatial symptoms (dyslexia, developmental coordination disorder, Auditory processing disorder and the like) arise in non-visual and non-spatial environments and situations; hence, visual/spatial learning is aggravated by an education system based upon information presented in written text instead of presented via multimedia and hands-on experience.
[citation needed] Functional imaging studies on people with autism have supported the hypothesis that they have a cognitive style that favors the use of visuospatial coding strategies.
Concepts related to visual thinking have played an important role in art and design education over the past several decades, but this has not always been the case.
[25] In Ancient Greece, Plato tended to place an emphasis on music to aid cognition in the education of heroes because of its mathematical tendencies and "harmonies of the cosmos".
On the other hand, visual images, paintings in particular, caused the reliances on "illusionary images"[26] However, in the Western world, children begin primary school with abstract thought and shapes, but as we grow older, according to Rudolf Arnheim, "arts are reduced to a desirable supplement"[26] The general world trend in the late twentieth century caused an emphases towards scientific, mathematical, and quantitative approach to education, and art education is often refuted because it is based on perception.
[27] At the same time, techniques in art and design can open up pathways to stimulate the thought process and problem solving.
