AIBU to think aphantasia is not rare?

@godmum56 I've never even heard that term before-but now I'm super interested! Gonna have a read up about it. It sounds like something I'd love, too bad it's not something you can learn.

There's loads of stuff kids are more attuned to that fade into adulthood-like seeing ghosts etc. sorry if you're not a "woo" person lol, just the first thing that came to mind.

I agree, when i first learned about what i could do as a child, I was really glad that it faded as I left young childhood because adult life would have been really dangerous! Even when i could do it, it was pretty rare...say 5 or six times between probably age 4 and 9.
There are researchers who say that the phenomenon doesn't exist and of course, like the stuff on here, people can only describe how their perception is to them which proves (or disproves) nothing.

no, its a real thing. Its not a hallucination as its limited to memories or things the eidetiker has actually seen. Its a funny thing. When I first learned about what i had, some 30 ish years ago, the descriptions of what it was were much tighter and much more like my own experience. Then people started to focus on studying the different ways that brains function and things the researchers thought they knew sort of crumbled. There also used to be information online about people who could control the projection so they could project the image onto a blank surface and then pencil over the image to give an actual picture of the projection. Kind of like a camera lucida. Its a funny thing. Its uncommon anyway, commonest in young children which are not good subjects for research. Its also more likely to be not under their control so even if you think a child can do it, getting them to do it on request presents other problems. Additionally of course children do have a tendency not to realise that what they can do is unusual and, like me, may not ever mention it while they can still do it.

Yep, and it would be dangerous.. you would have to have a blank mind whilst driving.

Same as you. I mean it's the mind generating the images after all not the actual sense organs. That's why I don't get how someone said they actually saw the images as if it was as real as what they'd see with their eyes. That sounds more like a hallucination. If I could really conjure up images that real I'd probably daydream my life away and that wouldn't be too healthy!

That sounds like hallucinations to me.

I don't see a thing when I close my eyes and didn't realise this was unusual, in fact, I wasnt even aware of it until very recently🤷‍♀️

I don't see images! If I actually close my eyes and try really hard I can sort of see a blurry shape of a specific thing but mostly I see it in words I suppose.

I really like taking pictures because I can't 'see' memories otherwise. I can't really remember what my daughter looked like as a baby, which makes me really sad, but I have a million photos of her I can look at instead. She's only 3 by the way so I can't blame time!

I see it behind my eyes. Like @godmum56 , where a third eye would be, just behind there.

for me the "seeing" happens just about where my third eye would be which, of itself, is interesting. Its hard, almost impossible for me to mind's eye see stuff with my eyes closed. I mentioned upthread that when I was a child I was an actual eidetiker and images would appear in front of me and so real that they would block out he real world. I had no control over it though.

This is always an interesting topic, as what people would consider a picture in their head varies so much.

Do people genuinely see an actual picture? As in, it is the same as having it in your vision? If I close my eyes, it is black and there are vague shapes from the light I was looking at previously. But I can think of something and "see" it in my mind.
I have also had hallucinations, and they are still there when I close my eyes. They are actual images, which is what makes them terrifying as they don't go away.

If I try to imagine something, it is in my head, and not my eyes... if that makes sense. The same as if I am reading... I narrate it in my head, but I do not hear it in my ears.

Not in my case and medically it says it isn’t (quick google)

I see the person talking as I listen. I see what they're talking about.
If it's a person I don't know talking then I just see the words as they're spoken, like ticker tape.

I see pictures and hate podcasts and audiobooks.

Can I ask a question of those of you who DO see pictures? Because I'm someone with aphantasia who doesn't.

Bit of a TAAT, but I've just seen someone asking for podcast recommendations and realised that perhaps the reason that I hate podcasts and would never listen to one is linked to my aphantasia? I find it almost impossible to listen and focus for any length of time to people just talking in my ear. Without any picture I can't follow audio - my own thoughts intrude and it's like having the radio and the tv on at the same time.

If you enjoy podcasts is it because you are visualising scenarios whilst the people talk? Or am I just a weirdo who hates podcasts?

This thread is facinating, i love all the different ways our minds work. It goes to show that we all experience and process life very differently.

The thinking in my own voice realisation from this thread has made me laugh. Like even if I imagine the sound a car makes it’s just me going “brmmmm” 😂 it must be amazing for these people to be able to see, taste, hear and smell things from their memories!

Also; I’m an artist, so I paint in minute detail what I’m seeing in front of me. But ask me to draw a finch I know it’s a small bird, an owl is bigger, but both would look like a 3 year olds drawing of ‘a bird’ just different sizes!

This is a good description, not visual, there is no seeing of anything at all for me, not the words or anything. If I see a thing I know what it is, but I could never imagine one in my head. Or a sound, so a cat says ‘meyow’ & a dog says ‘woof’ so I know it if I hear it, but that’s my own voice saying the word if I think of what cries those animals make.

Yes I can imagine smells, taste, touch but don't do it that often. It's not always a good thing when you vividly smell a chocolate cake or imagine eating it-you can almost taste it for real but not quite!

Yep I would imagine a whole song although it'd be a bit fuzzy if I haven't recently listened to it. I'm also not the most observant person in the world so I doubt I'd get all the instruments correct. The singing voice would be accurate tho. I like how you replace the singer with yourself 😆I'm quite jealous!

Thats really brilliant. I wish I could see the images.

It’s just not visual at all - so it’s not like I can see a box with words in it. It’s like I can spatially map something, and I just “know” information about it. So a horse I know what a horse is, I can reel off facts about what a horse looks like and I could draw one (badly). I can also imagine the movement of a horses legs but there’s no attached image.

With the house I can sort of imagine myself moving around the space but it’s not an image. Just imagine how a blind person knows their way around their house they can’t see it but they know where things are. I then have a list of facts like I know it was a brick fireplace and a gas fire. I know where they are in my mental map of the house!

I see images in my mind, I didn't realise that not everybody was like that. I mean, if I think of a mermaid I see a mermaid, with colourful scales, floaty hair, in a whole sea scene full of colours, just like if I was looking at a picture. But I also see numbers in colours as well.

touch no but I can do smell taste and sound as well as images. When i am deciding what to cook, I imagine what flavour and texture I want....so I guess I can do some aspect of touch but not skin touch. and I can only hear things I know well ie have heard frequently. Interstingly my default horse image is the Whistlejacket painting by Stubbs and it has been ever since I first saw it. I live where ponies range freely and have ridden myself and can "see" those horses and ponies if I choose to, but if somebody says to me "horse" my image is Whistlejacket.

So interesting. I’m always away in my mind reliving trips away, or planning the things I want to do. I wouldn’t be able to function without it as it’s my point of reference for remembering things!

It’s not always super clear, and it won’t always be totally accurate, but it works for the most part.