Page:Psychology and preaching.djvu/39

 MENTAL IMAGES 21

visualize objects in motion. Here, for instance, is a man s testimony of his memory of a great fire. He heard the bells, the tramp of feet upon the side-walk, his own puffing and blowing and that of others running with him to the fire, the noise of cracking and breaking glass, the roar of the blaze, the excited voices of the crowd; but had no distinct visual image of the fire itself. 1 All sorts of variations oc cur. Some minds revel in images of colour, while some are almost colour blank ; others are especially rich in images of form, etc., etc. By far the greater number of people have the capacity for visual imagery. Indeed, only a very small per cent, seem to be destitute of it, if any are absolutely so ; and the capacity for no other form of imagery is so gen erally possessed, a fact which indicates that the eye is the most serviceable of all the sense-functions. However, those who are relatively destitute of the capacity for visual imagery are by their very numbers of sufficient importance to receive consideration from public speakers. A speaker who relies mainly upon visual imagery for the expression of his thought is likely always to fail adequately to convey his meaning to a considerable proportion of his audience; if he is himself deficient in visual imagery, his efficiency as a public speaker will be most seriously curtailed. It be hooves every public speaker to study his own capacity for every form of imagery, so that he may not be partially in sulated, so to speak, from some of his hearers.

It is not easy to account for these curious variations in the capacity for the several forms of imagery. The ab sence of the capacity for any particular form does not indi cate that the person is destitute of the corresponding sense. At any rate, the external organs of the sense are present and seem active. But that is not by any means a sure indi cation that the man is really getting his experience in terms of that sense. The non-visualist, for instance, seems to be using his eyes in ordinary experience ; why can he not recall his experience in terms of vision? Probably it in-

1 Scott s &quot; Psychology of Public Speaking,&quot; p. 30.

�� �