Does “thinking” not include all mental activity?

Question

Is this accurate?

Mental speech and using your imagination to picture things are included in mental activity. When someone tells you “Think about it.”, you don’t have to use mental speech to do it. You don’t have to use your imagination to picture things to do it. However, if you do use mental speech and/or use your imagination to picture things when someone tells you to “Think about it.”, using those things are also part of the thinking process. Mental activity is also included in all things that involve the mind.

Thinking could be argued to mean "intentional thought", such as recalling a memory or working through a math problem or trying to come up with something to say.

Mental activity seems to cover more ground; I'd interpret it to include things like sensation (feeling pain and cold, even if you're not attending to them) and emotion (such as anxiety).

Depending on which system you're using, "thinking" may include all mental activity or only a small sliver of it.

Answer 1

Technically, you´re right and incorrect at the same time. The brain is so complex that some things that require thinking does not require thinking like you said, however, it just depends on the type of thought. Because, sometimes, when you have to think about specific things you are practicing mental activity because not everything you think about is a recollection. You have to use your mind to think and figure out what you need to or how to solve a problem or complete a task. Most things will cause you to exercise your brain because if not, you would not be able to think about doing things or utilizing certain parts of your brain. Both sides of your brain will require you to practice mental activity because you may not know certain things off hand or how to do everything. Whether it´s art or logical thinking, you will have to imagine what do you want to do or how will you solve this problem. And, your brain does control sensations and emotions because there are so many nerves in the brain that it ticks off certain areas in your body.