Aphantasia - I have it and have questions for people who don’t!

[Aphantasia]

For anyone who doesn’t know what aphantasia is, it’s not being able to mentally visualise imagery. I only recently found out that 99% of people can actually see things in their minds eye, I can’t, at all! I always thought it was just a figure of speech when people said things like ‘picture this’ or that when people meditated they could actually close their eyes and see beaches and sunsets or whatever. I have never been able to see anything when I close my eyes, just blackness, can’t see my loved ones faces or relive any memories visually. I imagine in concepts and can feel the shape of things and remember details that I can describe in words but not see.

But… here’s my question. I’m an artist, and I can sit down and draw from my imagination pretty much anything I want but why, if you can see things in your minds eye, can’t the 99% of the population that can visualise not sit down and draw things perfectly accurately from memory? My husband is crap at drawing, like if I said, draw a giraffe, he’d draw some god awful looking creature that looks like it should be put out of its misery!

When you imagine imagery in your minds eye, is it complete? Can you see every detail or are there blurry bits to fill in for the details you never quite noticed before?

So do people see images as if they were looking at a photograph ?

Yes, it's not just a still like a photograph either, it can play like a movie.

I haven’t read the whole thread so this may have been covered … but what happens when you read a book? Surely there’s no point!

Depends why you're reading a book, I guess.

@IhateBoswell

So do people see images as if they were looking at a photograph ?

Yes, it's not just a still like a photograph either, it can play like a movie.

This really is mind blowing for me.

@BigSandyBalls2015

I haven’t read the whole thread so this may have been covered … but what happens when you read a book? Surely there’s no point!

I read books, I comprehend it and understand it and enjoy it, but I don't translate the words into images of what I am reading. If a court room scene is being described, I don't translate that into an image, I just understand it is a courtroom scene.

I love reading! I do a bit of writing too, i have a great imagination, but i think in words, not pictures.

Wow, I don't see things images either, just black when I close my eyes, I thought that was normal!!

That is entirely normal. No one sees pictures floating in front of their eyes. The ‘mind’s eye’ refers to ‘seeing’ images in your brain.

There is still a lot of confusion on this thread…

I love reading- I studied English at uni, but long descriptive passages leave me a bit cold. You don't need to visualise to enjoy the story though.

I guess I would describe it like this. I don't have visual imagery or the ability to recall sounds, smells, tastes etc. Inside my head is just me and my internal monologue. But in a way that means I experience the world in words so reading fits in with that in a way.

I think it does offer some benefits. I have always had a very good memory for facts (although I do suffer with face blindness to an extent) I also think it made it easier to understand abstract concepts as all of my thoughts are abstract.

I think I am less bothered by violent films/ images. Even real life traumatic things that I've seen/ experienced don't stay with me in a visual way so I think it's less traumatic.

To answer someone's question up thread, I think I dream in words and feelings, definitely not visual. I've been known to wake up with tears rolling down my face, for a few seconds I can remember what I was dreaming about but by the time I've brushed my teeth the memory has gone and I can't bring it back to mind. Perhaps I don't remember dreams because there are no pictures and it's much harder to remember words🤔

@JaninaDuszejko

I not only have no minds eye (I see nothing but black when I close my eyes) I also have no internal monologue, Im fascinated that people have conversations with themselves! My head is silent inside as well

I can conjure up any image I want, but it's still black when I close my eyes...

Confuzzlediddled I only see black when I close my eyes.

I do have a mind's eye though. It's not like "seeing" with closed eyes though. It's nothing to do with my actual eyes.

Yes, you can still "see"'the images even with eyes open. It's obviously hard to describe if you can't do it yourself 😬

The confusion about only seeing black with your eyes closed....everyone sees black with their eyes closed. The mind's eye is different. It's a bit like if you have a song running through your head, you can "hear" the song and the lyrics but you can differentiate between that and what you can actually hear in reality. In the same way I can picture an apple (for example) in my mind, but it's not like I can see a literal apple floating in front of me!

Sorry still confused!

@wolfstarling

Sorry still confused!

About what?

The comparison to 'hearing' music or a song in your head but not vocalising is a good one. That's something i do a lot when out although I am not at all musical or into contemporary music. i can't sing in tune or play any instrument yet I can 'hear' songs from childhood in my head and feel the associations from long ago including images and smells while mundanely going about daily tasks.

Reading the responses of people who have no mental images or activity when there is no direct reason , eg problem solving at work, planning an activity or response, it's become clearer to me why I was so often told I was weird when younger. My mind was always fizzing with thoughts and feelings, images, song lyrics, stories, speculations and I was conscious from a young age of controlling my mind to distract from unpleasant situations. Like everyone I thought that I was normal but giving some people a little insight into just how much thought and feeling I experienced showed me that other peoples' brains/minds apparently don't work like that. I mean from a very young age and that criticism sparked speculation in me on just how imagination creates or recreates the world and where that is happening. I don't know if I should admit this but I do actually feel the activity in different areas of my brain or think I do.

My mind has calmed down considerably with age and there have been occasions when I have realised that I am not actually thinking or imaging anything, just observing, eg waiting for a bus, just standing watching the traffic and people passing by. Although that can be changed in a micro second to picturing the bus journey, the smell (I really hate the bus smell), the event or shop I am travelling to, something I watched or saw or dreamt last night. I'm afraid the odd thing to me is to be living in the moment entirely for the majority of the time. How do people cope? I mean it is so boring and frustrating and at times terrifying. If you can't escape into your own mind where do you go? It's like the song, "Is that all there is?", if anyone knows it.

Verbosity killed the aphantasia thread, sorry about that. Nothing to see here.

Well, I certainly feel a little worse, for your post. Funnily enough I do like that song.

Proust's macaroon also needs revisiting. He was probably a hypervisualiser!

I'm still so amazed how different people think. I have so many struggles and I know many are due to this!

I think my memory was sharp so it didn't hold me back too much. I am finding going through the menopause challenging as my once sharp memory would keep up with others so my lack of visualisation wasn't noticeable. This has now gone so yes I struggle far more now and the gap between me and everyone's learning is far greater.

The only thing that bothers me about being unable to visualise is that I can't picture my dad's face, it upset me after he died, though I was in my 40s before I knew aphantasia was a thing.

[quote Confuzzlediddled]@JaninaDuszejko

I not only have no minds eye (I see nothing but black when I close my eyes) I also have no internal monologue, Im fascinated that people have conversations with themselves! My head is silent inside as well[/quote]
So what goes on in your head? If you can't visualise and you are not using words to think then what on earth comprises your consciousness? What happens moment to moment?

I think an easy way to clarify whether you have aphantasia or not would be to first try to picture an apple, and then answer the question of what colour the apple is.

If you don't know what colour the apple is, then I would say you have aphantasia, as anyone who has any degree of mental visualising capability will be able say whether the apple is red or green.

Okay, maybe some people are colourblind. So then they could ask themselves if they can picture a bed. Then answer what colour the bedspread is.

@CheekyHobson

I think an easy way to clarify whether you have aphantasia or not would be to first try to picture an apple, and then answer the question of what colour the apple is.

If you don't know what colour the apple is, then I would say you have aphantasia, as anyone who has any degree of mental visualising capability will be able say whether the apple is red or green.

Okay, maybe some people are colourblind. So then they could ask themselves if they can picture a bed. Then answer what colour the bedspread is.

The bedding is blue. It's a pine framed single bed!

The apple is mainly red, with some green in the top left quarter.