Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions

by Temple Grandin

My first brain scan was done on a then-state-of-the-art MRI scanner in 1987 by Eric Courchesne at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. Cutting-edge at the time, the technology measured brain structure in beautiful, sharp detail. When I saw the images, I exclaimed, “Journey to the center of my brain!” From this scan, I learned why I had balance problems. My cerebellum was 20 percent smaller than in the average brain. Another MRI explained why I had high levels of anxiety before I started taking antidepressants. My amygdala (emotion center) was three times larger than average. The scans that really blew my mind were done at the University of Pittsburgh by Walter Schneider, the inventor of a new technology called Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). This technology images the nerve fiber bundles that carry information between different parts of the brain. His research was funded by the Defense Department to develop high-definition fiber tracking (HDFT) to diagnose head injuries in soldiers. This technology provided clearer images than other devices at the time and was able to distinguish where nerve fibers connected to each other and where they only crossed each other. My speech circuits were much smaller than those in the control, which may explain why my speech was delayed as a child. But my visual results were off the charts—400 percent larger than those in the controls. It was as if I had a huge internet trunk line from my rear visual cortex to my frontal...