What you can see in your minds eye

[namcybotwinbloom]

There was a thread a while ago, I can't find it for love nor money but it was about visualising things in your head.

It was basically you can either see a picture of it in your head or you can't you can just use words to know what it looked like.

I tried this with my DD 7 just now and she's blew my mind.

She said it totally different if her eyes are open are closed.

So if I said can you imagine a green apple, yes she can and she can see it in her mind and describe it but it's different depending on whether he leaves eyes are open or closed!

I always wonder about this now and about people's dreams. Not everyone dreams in colour. Some people can control some of their dreams or wake up and go back to a dream by thinking about it.

I can do this, I've always done it.

Just wondering what everyone else is like?

I dream in colour, have sound, can control most things but not everything and I can see things on my minds eye.

If you read, like me a lot is this because you do this, ie imagine it all in your head like I do and is it linked to how you dream?

Wow I always wished I could do this. I cant visialise my room differently (so choosing paint colour I need to see it on the wall)or how things would look (i like apps that show you but its not the same.) When i used to biy clothes I could never imagine 2 items from different shops and if they'd go together- I'd have to put them together.

I can with describe objects and picture the feel snd sort of consciously draw an outline of them in my head - but not picture them as they are.

Im fairly faceblind too. I pretty much couldn't do a photofit of my parents....

I don’t see my minds eye with my eyes. I “see” it further up in my head

Same my eyes aren't involved , I see it in my head - in my brain if that makes sense. No idea how to explain it another way 😆

I also have a contact inner monologue- my brain is saying this at the same time I am writing it. I only learned recently that others don't have this. When some words are spelled incorrectly or are very non phonetic my head reads then as they look and I have to like manually correct it 🤷🏼‍♀️😆

I can see, smell and imagine how things feel when I imagine something. I can hear what I'm writing as I write it, I can go back into dreams if I wake up, dream in colour, taste food and feel pain in them.

Wow, this thread has blown my mind. I don't see anything! I've never thought of it before. I do have vivid dreams.

@cocoloco987

I also have a contact inner monologue- my brain is saying this at the same time I am writing it. I only learned recently that others don't have this. When some words are spelled incorrectly or are very non phonetic my head reads then as they look and I have to like manually correct it 🤷🏼‍♀️😆

I have this too. There was a thread about this quite recently, which may be the same one the op refers to, and it was fascinating! I think it was ‘What happens in you head when you read?’

I find it very hard to visualise things, and the process for trying to happens at the top of my head, not my eyes. I can sort of bring a vague image but it vanishes after a second or so. When I’m reading, I see characters as almost silhouettes but in colour, so a vague outline of them but with no detail.

mrsavocet I too hear music when I read it. Best next step is where you hear music in your head (without humming) not just one line but multiple parts. I really remember when I first realised I was hearing both piano lines distinctly in my head either triggered by reading the music or not (it was the ‘not’ that was exciting. Then it grows to eg trios, quartets. Not sure I’ve ever heard a full blown orchestral score in such detail in my mind. It’s pretty full on experience. I’ll bet many have this but don’t realise.

It’s also interesting in law. During closing speeches to a jury I’m often asking them to visualise things - something I can do.
Took me some time to think about how we all do that differently - saying ‘play this like a film in your mind’ or ‘imagine you were there, what will stand out to you as you visualise that moment is (blah blah)’ - things like that may not resonate. There’s a lot of really interesting research about recall and memory - how things are accessed and how images play a part and why they don’t for some and what that means for evidence.

Ah yeah I wouldn't be able to do that!

I used to teach "eye witness testimony" as part of psychology and some of the classic studies that show how easily our "memories" can be affected.

I used to live in fear of being asked by the police what someone looked like but now I have the vocabulary to say I cant do that!

It used to be very embarassing (oh which hv did you just see? I dont know... describe them... I cant... well were they xyz... I dont know...)

For people who can't see anything, what happens when you read a book?

That relies heavily on visualisations for me. I'm almost transporting myself to a whole new world because I can visualise everything and everyone which makes it feel immersive. Which is why most times the movie version of books are so disappointing because they don't match your visualisation.

I am an avid reader and always have been but get caught up in the people and relarionships and events. I wouldn't be able to relay any of the scenery really...

Nope. Can't picture anything. I can remember images and that's it.

Absolutely feels immersive, but not in "describe the scenery" way. I always prefered books to film, maybe due to genuinely in my head and not relying on visuals.

I’m currently reading this:
books.google.com/books/about/Imagination.html?id=UhKSDwAAQBAJ
And it’s fascinating! Thought I’d recommend it based on this interesting thread

I don't have aphantasia (no pictures in your mind) but it's obviously a scale and I'm quite close to total aphantasia.

If you ask me the imagine a beach a see a yellow sand smudge, a sea smudge and a sky smudge with no real details. It's easier if you ask me to picture a beach I know but it's still not very detailed.

I'm an identical twin and she's exactly the same. My son on the other hand has a very good imagination. If someone mentions sick or poo he can't stop himself seeing it in his head and starts to gag. His nighttime monsters are very detailed.

This is completely different from dreaming. I dream in full vivid pictures and even sometimes in black and white, manga and a few times in computer code - it's nothing like when I try and picture things.

I consider myself fairly artistic with a good eye for style and colour so it's not affected that.

I have aphantasia and can't picture anything, it's just black. I only realised a few years ago after reading a thread on here that people can actually see things in their heads, I was shocked!

@MrsAvocet I don't understand how you can not hear music in your head when you're reading it. Does the tune come as a surprise when you press the key (thinking of piano)?

Re the pain on the dreams, I do wonder if there is actual pain there and the dream has evolved from that.

@NormanCornerstone

I don’t see anything. Even when I’m reading a book with a vivid description of someone I don’t see an image of a person with those characteristics just a general ‘sense’ or feeling of the person

This is how it is for me, too. I can't visualize anything. It's why I am rubbish at 3d maths, giving or following directions, moving furniture around etc. I close my eyes and just have a very vague sense of something, absolutely no picture. My DD, on the other hand, can "see" everything. She is an engineer, so it's a helpful thing to be able to do. She describes it as like having a film playing in her head but more vivid. She can see, hear, feel, smell, the works. It completely baffles me.

I have aphantasia. I can't see a thing in my mind eye its just totally blank. I can imagine an apple and what it feels like but I can't see it. Also can't recognise people out of context so if for example I see someone in a uniform I don't recognise them in normal clothes. I've even walked past my own husband as I wasn't expecting to see him so I didn't recognise him.

I'm hyperphantasic. I have vivid, active dreams in full technicolour. I can lucid dream. I also have a good memory, and good sense of direction, which in my case is definitely linked to what I "see" - I was talking with friends recently about infant school, and I could take myself back there and move round the classrooms and describe it (in real life, it was demolished 35-40 years ago, and in any case, would have had to have been decorated once or twice since, if it hadn't been!)

I do now know that not everyone has the same experience, so it's easier not to get frustrated that people don't recall things or "see" what I'm describing.

I dont see anything, just a vague impression. When i dream i dont see anything, judt loads of impressions and noise. I know what things look like but i cant see it.

Surely your mind’s eye is your imagination?

I still remember the moment when I first found out about aphantasia. It was like a weight had been lifted. All my life I'd struggled when people asked me to visualise things. As a child I was asked to visualise relaxing scenes to help me get to sleep, as an adult, I was asked to visualise things in training workshops, coaching sessions etc and I was even asked to visualise my happiest moments for coping with child birth. I just couldn't do it and didn't realise that other people actually could! I have a great imagination, though, but imagine through words. I heard that it could be connected with early reading. I guess this makes sense, because as children you only have pictures, but then the words replace the pictures and perhaps if that happens early, we lose the ability to use pictures? I also agree with the poster who says she can't recognise anyone out of context - very embarrassing!

This is fascinating. I had no idea some people can't "see" in their mind.

I see things vividly, imagine whole scenes, conversations, like a movie. I just assumed, quite wrongly, that everyone else did too.