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Temple Grandin also famously speaks of thinking in pictures; could this + Einstein be related to Simon Baron-Cohen's thesis that autism can be defined as an "oversystematizing" brain?

From what I understand, Einstein taught himself to. Is it the same with Grandin?

But in some cases, you have to think in pictures. Like trying to solve a Graph problem, it is even hard for me to describe a specific Graph problem in proper language...

As a child, I used to think in pictures too, but the school system beat it out of me.

Would you expand on this?

The most famous example is his discovery of relativity coming from envisioning himself riding along a beam of light.

But most people when hungry think "I'm hungry" (if they have a conscious thought on the matter at all, which they may not) rather than picturing a hamburger. Or so my psychology professor said.

I would say most people don't actually "think" they're hungry rather than perceive they're hungry. The hunger response is not a higher-level cognitive function; it is regulated by the lower brain. When it reaches the level at which you can reason about (and picture a hamburger), it is more than likely that you already are aware of your hunger.