Aphantasia

I was always very good academically. It is embarrassing not to know who people are, but less so since I realised that it isn't for lack of trying. I often mention it to people I am likely to meet again. For example, I am one of the officers of a chess club (so I welcome any new people) - if someone visits occasionally and then might return the following week or month, I won't know I've met them. There are two regular members of the club; I have known one for five years and see him most weeks while the other joined about six months ago. They look the same to me and I'm never sure which is which until they start talking: fortunately one is English and one is French!

I imagine there are some careers I couldn't do. If I worked in A&E I would remember the patients by where they were physically, and I'd have a rough idea of appearance. But heaven help us all if there were several middle-aged women with short hair and they moved from where I last saw them! I once worked in a corner shop and couldn't remember who the known shoplifters were or which kids weren't allowed to hang around on the doorstep because they were in the habit of asking people to buy them booze. I have done some teaching, but it was hard, and I made everyone stick with the same seats.

I'm loving this thread. You've all been able to explain so much better than me. My husband doesn't get it but we actually have less arguments now because he realises that I don't 'see'

I kind of can if I try really hard but it's not a full picture, it's there for a micro second and I can't see any colour. It gives me a headache if I try for too long. Most of my thoughts are words or it's just because I 'know'

I only realised a year or so ago, and I've doubted myself alot because what if actually I do 'see' the same way as other people but I'm just over thinking it

Me too

Snarky

New phone's autocorrect

I hear my voice in my head

I'm a sparky, sarcastic fucker, too

As a matter of interest, when I say 'inner monologue' I mean that I think words. I don't actually hear the words in my head.

Is that what other people's inner monologues are like? Or do some people actually hear the words as if someone was saying them?

I gave aphantasia too. I also cannot hear things in my head, or smell or taste them too. So if I'm asked to remember a song, I could recreate it in my head, but I couldn't imagine hearing it.

I remember in facts, so I'm actually great at navigating, I only ever have to go somewhere once and I can find my way back. I think that's cause I pay more attention to my surroundings.

However, I have a terrible memory, and there's lots from my childhood that's just gone, I simply can't remember things like that.

I'm okay with maths and arithmetic, but rubbish at 3D maths. You know when you need to rotate a shape, my husband can literally flip it in his mind, but I have to sit and work out where each bit will go.

As a child, when people said to count sheep, I thought you had to literally lie there and say 1 sheep, 2 sheep etc, I never realised people could visualise sheep jumping over a wall etc.

@NameChangeThreeThousand

I have no idea whether it has made things harder (apart from recognising people), because I don't know what it would have been like to have that ability. I did well enough at school, so it didn't stop me learning. I guess the mind just finds other ways.

As an aside, I do have an inner monologue. I struggle to recognise people's voices though.

The faces thing is frustrating. So many times I've bumped into someone, had a conversation, and had no idea who they were (much to the amusement of my DC). Or I've thought someone was person X and mid-conversation discovered that they're person Y. That is embarrassing.

No picture at all. Not even a vague, fuzzy one.

I have this, and face blindness with people ive met less than 10x or so, and can't navigate myself around roads I've lived near for years / hotel corridors etc. Dp is incredulous when I can't recognise people on TV when they get a new haircut. I tend to listen rather than watch now, and can recognise people he can't via voice (like voice overs in peppa pig). I do have an annoyingly loud internal monologue though. My dreams are the same, feelings or words only.

@NameChangeThreeThousand
I have a stem PhD, but I exam extremely poorly. I recall via voice repetition as I can't see formulas, so rely on course/lab work for grades. I'm an editor so have little need for recall now thankfully, I lose information as soon as it's processed unless I'm using it day in day out, or repeating several times a day.

Also, big time inner monologue for me. Well, not always inner - I'm one for talking to myself.

@NameChangeThreeThousand
so randomly spatial memory is normal. So when reading books I can think where I am in a space, but can’t visualise any of the details of the surroundings. It’s really hard to describe as I don’t know any different 😆
I an awful with faces- like if someone gets a haircut I don’t recognise them sometimes. So that a big negative as I can’t see people’s faces in my mind at all.
learning wise I have a very good memory and did well in school and university, so I guess I used other ways to remember things. I often recorded my notes at school onto tape, so I guess I remember much more through listening.

I can create a borderline mental image with an effort, but it's not something that comes to me naturally. Tell me to "imagine an elephant" and like OP, it's more of an abstract concept to me.

And yes, I also really struggle to remember a person's face.

It's mostly specific to sight for me. I definitely have a "mind's ear" and get my share of earworms, and I'm much more likely to recognise someone's voice than their face. Other senses too - the most memorable thing about the time I nearly fell off a cliff isn't what the cliff looked like but the feeling of stumbling and nearly falling off.

@Hungrycaterpillarsmummy . I understand what you are saying, but some people do actually “see” sheep. There are differing degrees of what people see, with some having vague shapes to people seeing whole scenes.
ive talked to lots of people since finding this out just last week 😆. My mum sees sheep leaping over a fence with green fields. It’s like a photo in her mind.

its fine if you don’t believe I can’t picture anything. There has been interesting research that looks at brain scans and looks to see which parts of the brain are accessed. Some people’s visual cortex “light up”, some aren’t used at all when accessing memories or trying to visualise.

As far as I know the inner monologue is less common than you’d think. I saw an article earlier saying less than 50% of people have one (think it was around 35-40%). Could be wrong though.

I don’t have one. Unless I’m reading or a tune gets stuck, my mind is silent. I think in abstract senses of things. It’s peaceful and hearing others describe their inner monologues sounds exhausting.

To the people with aphantasia - has it had any negative impact on you? Like made learning harder? Reading harder? Or is it just different but doesn't make anything hard?

DH has Aphantasia but he can’t picture anything. If you ask him to picture an elephant he says he kind of imagines the word but not a picture.

DH cannot picture things so if I’m trying to explain how something will fit in the house for example, I need to draw it for him so he can literally see it or physically show him.

Wow!! I just can't get my ahead around this!

So if you see a toothbrush and shut your eyes, you cannot bring a picture of it to mind???? At all??

I'm like that with art!!! I can picture a beautiful scene, but try and draw it and .... well it's not pretty! My children are similar and get frustrated they can't draw why they see in their heads! :) Not sure many can to be fair!!

I cannot imagine what it would be like to have aphantasia. My imagination is so active with lots of images!! Would love to step into someone else's brain for a bit! It's so fascinating the things we take for granted and assume we all do (like thinking with images), and then find we don't all do it!!

@Hungrycaterpillarsmummy
No, I can't picture a toothbrush. I can describe it - handle, bristles, etc. But I can't picture it.

Nobody actually counts sheep, you know?!

So if I said to you, "what does a toothbrush look like?" You can't picture a toothbrush?

@Newrumpus . I know this is an old thread, so may well start a new one. I’ve just discovered I’ve got this too 🙈
I didn’t realise people can actually “ see “ stuff when they count sheep or visualise sunsets in yoga classes. I found this good article that explains some of the research if it’s of interest to anyone.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-the-minds-eye-is-blind1/

When people said they see thinks super clear (on another similar thread a while back), I was worried as for me it's much more subtle and internal than that, but images definitely do come to mind.

One way I know I have it is that I can sometimes see intrusive things very easily - eg walking up the stairs I can see something someone could trip over and instantly imagine one of my kids falling down the stairs, breaking a bone - I cringe almost as if it had happened!

This makes me wonder if people with aphantasia might be less risk averse? I am wary of loads of things because I visualise what can go wrong (and it's horrible!)

@happyumwelt there is no melody. A stream of words, a rhythm but no tune at all. It might explain why I'm a crap singer.

I can't visualise what family members look like, or what they sound like. I do recognise them when I see or hear them.

Having said that, I am not great at recognising people generally. And for fun I once did an online test about facial recognition. Apparently I came in the bottom 3%. Good thing I never wanted to join the police.

wonder what would happen if they took acid!