Can you picture things in your minds eye?

[StillMedusa]

I can't. Never have been able to . I thought it was just a figure of speech but turns out it really is a thing.. people can visualise something not in front of them!
Aphantasia is the name for not being able to (ie me). Not that it's caused me any problems except for not being able to imagine my dh's latest DIY project but I can't even picture my own kids..I can describe them but I can't 'see' them in my head.
I'm also not very emotional and can move past difficult things/events/sadness in a way that has always slightly worried me (not that I don't care, I do, but it doesn't haunt me) and I wondered if that was conencted, because I can't mentally revisit things.

Just wondered how common it is really?!

I'm exactly like you OP.

Although instead of a minds eye I have Synesthesia though and see words/numbers/dates/people/personalities as block colours.

I just assumed everyone's brain worked like that until I made an offhand comment to a baffled group of people about November and January being the brown months.

(October is white, December is black, February is Orange, March is Green, April Yellow, May a light blue, June and July are pink, August is burgundy and September is mostly yellow, sometimes Red)

Weirdly i was just talking about this with a friend! I’m the same as you, OP. Can’t visualise but weirdly I can do the decorating thing a few people have mentioned because I sort of…describe it to myself…I’m not really sure how it works and I definitely don’t ‘see’ it but yeah…

I have quite extreme emotions in the moment (ADHD) but my sleep psychologist recently told me he was fascinated by how little I look back and that I just move on from things. There is an exception though - romantic relationships. I’m a huge mess after a breakup for quite some time - unless I feel like it was really wrung dry before it ended.

I don't think any of these things are necessarily connected.

I am shit at faces. I'm not a visual person. I remember directions by speaking them out loud to myself.

I have an astonishingly accurate memory for things I've heard or said. But not for things I've seen.

And I'm shit at emotions.

I can see whatever I want in my mind's eye,

I have a very lively inner life. I write myself into tv shows, films, books and have huge epic adventures. I can see it all acted out in my head. I've kissed many a handsome man.

What would I do with my time if I couldn't do that? I'd probably be more productive 😆

[quote Angerelle]@Hairyfriend the opposite of this is hyperphantasia - the University of Exeter have done research about the mind's eye, I went to a great exhibition which showcased work by artists at both ends of the spectrum.[/quote]
Thank you @Angerelle

I have looked into this and a quick online test showed I likely have this- the complete opposite condition to the OP. I never realised this wasn't common!

My DH can recall very little from his childhood, and mainly a few, vague things from age 8. I can recall vividly some experiences from age 3. I'd always assumed he had blocked out his childhood due to a bad experience, but maybe he has the same condition as you OP.

I have complete aphantasia. Always have had. I thought when people imagined things they just thought about them not literally closed their eyes and saw them. I can still dream occasionally in pictures but apparently that uses a different part of the brain.

What I discovered from twitter recently was that people can imagine tastes and smells too. I find that unbelievable.

i see in words i guess but i also have synesthesia like another poster so i see in words and colours. I could describe a face but i wouldnt 'see' a face in my mind like a photo, id see a face all built up of words if that makes any sense at all so like....crooked teeth, blue eyes, long blonde hair, brown mole on the left side of the cheeks but id see all those descriptions written out like that in my head making a face but i wouldnt 'see' a face. argh i dont know how else to descriobe it

Forgot to add. I am a very emotional person but I saw a film about aphantasia where it was mentioned aphantasic people respond to grief differently and seem to ‘recover’ from it quicker. I’m not sure I agree about recovery being quicker just different but that film described my grief response to a T. No one ever understood why I didn’t grieve the same as them. Don’t get me wrong I do miss loved ones and pets that have passed away and when I see photos or videos of them I can be flooded with grief but I have a real out of sight out of mind type response to grief. It’s a bit of a blessing if I’m honest and allows me to get on with life and cope with the sadness in a very rational manner

Op how do you dream? Do you see images at all?
Fascinating.
I can picture things fine. Not vividly but enough. My dreams are often vivid. I have no sense of direction though and never recognise anyone unless I’ve met them more than twice.

I can tell you where someone was standing a room/what was in the room or where they looked whilst telling me something, but if I try to picture a face I really struggle. Its like I can see it in my peripheral minds eye but not directly.

I sort of see all the details around the main point in both situations.

I dream like a movie and if it goes wrong I can step back and rewrite the story -

I’ve just realised how crap I would be at police photo fits. Although I can see people in my minds eye, I see all of them and can’t distinguish details. Like I can’t say what shape their eyebrows or lips are but I would know who they were and what their outline and hair was like and if they were smiling or crying etc.

I can’t either. I can know what something might be like but I cannot picture it at all.

Yes I can really vividly, but DH really struggles. When it comes to building work or moving furniture etc I have to draw him little diagrams for him to be able to see what it would look like. He thinks it's unusual for me to do that I think he's unusual to not be able to do that. He's also really bad at sense of direction and remembering routes or diversions even if we've used then dozens of times and I think this may be linked.

Yes, I have to ‘translate’ things into pictures in my mind to understand them. I play out scenarios in my head all the time, like a film.
I’m also very good at reading emotions.

I’m hopeless with directions. If someone gives me verbal directions I have to make it into a picture/map in my head if I’m to have even the slightest chance of understanding. Same with instructions on how to do something,

@Hairyfriend

I wonder what the opposite condition to this is? I have a very good spacial/visual ability and can imagine the view from various points in the room (even the ceiling or floor which I wouldn't normally view from). I always did well at those spacial tests where there is a 3D box or shapes which has been flattened, and you need to work out what shape it would make.

OP- are you good at finding your way when driving/walking without a sat nav? I seem to have an internal homing device/sat nav and very rarely get lost. My DH, however, struggles with directions or remembering routes we have been on multiple times

Do you recognise people you have met before?

I do well on spatial reasoning tests like that. And I have a really good sense of direction/ability to retain routes. Weirdly I remember the shape of routes but I don’t picture it in my mind at all. It’s hard to describe what it is. There’s definitely no image but a sense of non-visual shape and connectedness.

I've also got a good memory for information about patients and have excellent recall for birthdays and things like that. In fact my memory has got better as I get older and I always thought you got brain fog when menopausal.

Ah OP - this is such an interesting thread! I love hearing about how other people see and experience things.

I find it hard to create a 'new' vision in my head - but can remember almost every word I've ever read. Is that a photographic memory? I'm never sure what that means.

Admittedly, it was bloody helpful in younger days to fly through exams without trying

And just for balance, because the last comment sounded flippant, I also can't forget or let go of every second of trauma in my life.

I’m good at knowing what will fit in spaces, how to decorate nicely etc too. But without ever picturing anything in my mind.

Like others have said, I always thought it was just a thing people said about picturing things in their mind. But it seems that I’m odd for not doing it. I’ve spent the end of a yoga class not actually picturing a river or a balloon or whatever the teacher is asking the class to picture. I think more about the sense of motion and the bits that make up the river and things. But no matter how hard I try I cannot produce a picture in my mind.

Yes.
I also remember things by colour.
Numbers are colours.
People are colours.
Memories are colours.

I can - when I can't sleep I imagine a building and imagine myself walking through it and what room looks like. I also have a very good sense of direction. I can picture peoples faces (as in, actually see them in colour in my mind).
I don't know if it's connected but I'm the absolute opposite when it comes to numbers. I just can't visualise them and I'm terrible at working out sums. However, I'm very good with excel, but I think that's because there is a visual aspect.

Yes. Easily. When reading a book it instantly comes alive in my minds eye.

@EvenMoreFuriousVexation

I don't think any of these things are necessarily connected.

I am shit at faces. I'm not a visual person. I remember directions by speaking them out loud to myself.

I have an astonishingly accurate memory for things I've heard or said. But not for things I've seen.

I'm like this. I only remember very vague details of people. eg "wore glasses" "had red hair" etc It's awful whenever I've started a new job which involves meeting lots of different people for only a minute or two at a time, but who will visit again, becuase my mind just doesn't take in names or faces at all, my brain just goes into meltdown at all the new faces and names to learn. It's just too much visuall information all at once. Can be quite embarrassing sometimes only taking in surface detail of people's appearance because I've got people mixed up before solely because they had the same colour hair or something as someone else. Even worse when my brain has remembered skin tone as the most immediately memorable feature....

I never notice what people are wearing either. I'd never be able to tell police what a missing family member was wearing when I saw them last. And because I don't notice what people are wearing, I think that others think like that too, so I just often throw clothes on myself without thinking. Then I see a thread on Style and Beauty about fashion faux pas or "what look is immediately ageing?" and realise that other people probably ARE noticing details about how I dress and that I'm unusual not to notice what someone is wearing.

Found my people! I first found out people actually can see things in their minds eye and that I couldn't and it was an actual thing here on mumsnet. I feel a bit deprived and I'm constantly asking people if they have a minds eye to try and find a fellow weirdo like me, not found one in real life. I'm confident it explains why I'm such an awful artist and such a frequent photographer. Ive been thinking recently about how there's something about how you retain memories when you can't visualise them