Anphantasia

[Soubriquet]

Thanks to buzz feed I now realise I have this!

Basically it’s where you can’t picture anything in your mind for example whilst reading a book.

So if someone said to you imagine counting sheep, you can see the sheep to count!

I can’t. I mean I know what sheep look like obviously, but I can’t picture them in my head

The comedian Richard Herring has this, and has written about it a few times - this is the first time he wrote about it in his blog www.richardherring.com/warmingup/08/02/2020/index.html. Hard for those of us who don't have it to imagine what it's like - just as it's hard for you to imagine what it's like to "see" things in your mind!

It explains why I’m terrible with faces too.

I have it too. I discovered it a few weeks back when I read an article about it.

I'm a teacher and have always found learning students' faces to be a nightmare. Tell me their name, I know everything about them, but can't recognise their face for toffee a lot of the time. I explain it to my students every year when I saw it takes a lot of time for me to get to know them. The students are usually fascinated and often there's one or two students who have this to!

My husband really doesn't get it at all. He thinks it means I have no imagination,., and doesn't understand how I can imagine things if I can't see them!

And yes to the counting sheep... I just used to count "one sheep, two sheep etc". I never realised people could actually see the sheep!!!

Not weeks, years!

I love reading. It’s one of my favourite activities.

But unless there is a film of the movie, I can’t for the life of me picture what the character could look like!

I have the opposite, synaesthesia. I just tried imagining an apple and practically had a multi sensory experience! I could taste the tang of the juice, hear the crunch and feel the texture! All of this was involuntary. I didn't consciously decide to imagine any of that. I just thought about a green apple.

Not much use, granted. But I enjoy it when people ask me what colour their names are and such. It's also quite useful for learning music.

And I'm really craving a Granny Smith, now.

Wow!

I have a fictional story about a girl who has synesthesia but she has tetchrochroma too and it’s a fascinating read

Sometimes, if you search for images of the character, you might find some fan art which can be helpful for reading.

@AutistGoth

Sometimes, if you search for images of the character, you might find some fan art which can be helpful for reading.

I already do that

It has never occurred to me to imagine how a character in a novel looks.

Another one here.

I'm basically face blind too, don't notice haircuts/subtle changes for instance. I can't even picture my own kids faces unless there's an image in front of me - I can tell you their hair and eye colour but that's about it. Nothing distinguishable.

It scares me that my memories will completely disappear because I can't "see" the people in them to remind me what they look like anymore 😔

Disclaimer: I do have diagnosed anxiety and I am aware this is another irrational thought process but it does play on me.

I thought this was going to be about a baby name!

@choosername1234

I thought this was going to be about a baby name!

I would expect to be ripped to shreds if I wanted to call my baby this

I do find this fascinating. Sometimes when I imagine book characters it can be annoying, say if an image of my next door neighbour pops into my mind, but I don't want the character to be my ndn. Then I can't shake the image so I might have to spend the book imagining ndn as book character. I hope this isn't just me!