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?

Agree its odd you can draw from the mind yet see nothing in your mind…

I think you are missing the definition of ‘drawing’- for most people the ability to draw is the connection between either seeing (infront of you, literally) and translating that onto paper through the movements of your hand; or seeing something in your imagination, and translating that onto paper through movement of your hand.

I don’t see how you can draw from imagination if you 100% have no minds eye!
There was another thread recently on this & it was fascinating. X

I understand what MolkosTeenageAngst is saying too - I could visualise it but if I wasn’t very familiar it might be blurry or somewhat distance I’m terms of shape/form.

I only get black too. My kids were astounded when I told them I can’t see anything. I also love taking photos. I do see in dreams.

Having said that, I could for instance draw the layout of my childhood home, or trace a path to the local shop or my school. But I can’t see it in my mind. So weird

I can’t understand how you can draw from your imagination when not seeing something in your imagination this needs pondering.
I’ve got great visual recall etc right now as an example I can ‘see’ the shoulder of that giraffe and muscle shape indeed even some viens and its hide (it stopped galloping) but couldn’t begin to draw it at all.

@Itsnotover yes!!! That’s one of the reasons I found out I had it!

I think it is imagination linked for me anyway. We are wanting to redecorate/remodel the house. I can't do it without someone mocking up what the room will look like and I can look at each one and pick. It is someone else's imagination I have to use.

Hair styles, outfit choices, colour schemes etc etc I cant imagine. I have to try and see.

I always thought it was an arty/creative side of me that is missing.

I dont actually see things though.

So if I close my eyes its black.
But if I wanted to think about something like my kids. I could imagine what they look like. But my eyes are actually still seeing black but I'm "seeing my kid" somewhere else like in the back of my head.

But you can do with your eyes open, so I can imagine what my kids face looks like and can "see it" at the same time as looking at your post. How clear or crisp the image is depends on how vivid the memory is.

But you can imagine anything.
So you can see a fish flying in the sir, it's just images in my mind but I'm not seeing with my eyes. So with eyes open you can see what you're imagining as well as what is in front of your eyes.

@SweetBabyCheeses99 When you say just a concept, what do you mean?
If I imagine myself at the beach, it isn't a concept of a beach. I can see the sea and the waves, I can see moving pictures as though I'm there. I can imagine the sounds and the smells that go with it too. I can make it look like I want. I can get up and walk around. It looks very realistic.

OP, if you have something excited coming up, do you imagine what it's going to be like. For example, before going on holiday,I imagine in my mind what I think it will be like. This will consist of lots of different things such as how I'll feel, things I might see, experiences I might have, fears etc etc. But I'm not actually seeing these things infront if me. It's my imagination at work.

[quote Aphantasia]@MolkosTeenageAngst omg, that description fried my brain. But if you can ‘see a bicycle how can you not SEE an actual bicycle including the shape of the frame, agh!! I’ve opened a can of worms 😂[/quote]
Can you hear things in your head? Like can you bring a song to mind and ‘head’ it in your head?

If you can and you focus on what you are ‘hearing’ inside your head it’s not the same as hearing the song on the radio. You can’t necessarily be able to run through the whole song in your head because you might only remember the words to the chorus, and you might be able to hear the lyrics or the melody but probably can’t focus in on individual instruments and the music as a whole.

Seeing things in my minds eye is like that to me, it’s absolutely not the same as seeing something in real life and you can only see as much as you can remember. I might be able to ‘see’ a vague shape of a bicycle in my head and some bits might be clear like the material of the saddle but won’t really have any picture of some other bits like the way the wheel is attached to the bike. It is very different to being able to see something in real life, it’s a vague visual memory of something and not a clear picture.

When I close my eyes I just see grey and blurryness. I found out about this recently and was very surprised about this. I am also not convinced about the stats that it is rare as lots of people I have asked since also see grey/blur.

I'm also better at picturing things so to speak if I have my eyes open.

I think I have this. I can’t visualise at all, yet I have vivid dreams and prefer visual learning.

But if I close my eyes and try and picture something it’s just black. It’s like my brain can describe the image but I can’t see it. If I try and picture a tropical beach, for example, I know what that should look like so my brain can “tell” me what it looks like, but I can’t see it. I know what my children look like obviously and could describe them, but I can’t picture them.

@sjxoxo it’s like if I’m drawing I can sense what I want to communicate, so if I want to draw a figure I’ll know that I want it to be short and fat and that for it to read the way I want it to it needs to have a fullness around the tummy or it’s shoulders need to be narrow and rounded… it’s so hard to explain, but I don’t see it, I just know it…

[quote Aphantasia]@Itsnotover yes!!! That’s one of the reasons I found out I had it![/quote]

Haha, it used to make me feel stressed when people said that. I have been relieved to learn there are others like me!

If I asked you, what colour is your front door? Would you be able to answer? That's a standard question for initial assessment of the 'mind's eye', as most of us can access a mental image of our door. And, as another PP asked, what about dreams? Do you have images in your dreams? I'm having a hard time imagining how you can be an artist without mental visual imagery.

@offyougotwantychops

aphant do you Dream? (As in visual dreams not as in dreaming of a relaxing holiday!)

Dreaming of a relaxing holiday would be, for me, seeing things in my mind's eye. Day dreaming , imagining etc

My mind absolutely blew when I first heard multi voice pieces of music in my head. Each instrument clear and the whole clear. Was at music college so think those brain ‘muscles’ had developed. When reading a score or not. Haven’t noticed it for some time.

Hi @Aphantasia -I'm similar to you and am also an artist. I have fairly visual dreams and can remember them, but I can't properly visualise things when I'm awake. When I've been made to meditate, I kind of pretend 😂. I think much more in words, although I can make lovely images outside my head.

@ofwarren I would give my right arm to be able to do what your describing… well actually maybe not my right arm… left possibly (I’d still want my right one to paint everything I’d imagine!)

I have no minds eye and am very face blind - for example watching a war movie will make no sense as I can't identify the actors as being different people!

I can't draw but I do have a memory of being asked to draw my own house when I was at school, my art teacher was surprised I made the glass in the windows dark - I knew they were dark as I literally had to sit in the garden and draw, I couldn't of drawn the right number of windows by memory or visualising it.

I don't have visual dreams either!

When I close my eyes I just see grey and blurryness. I found out about this recently and was very surprised about this

But this isn’t about seeing images floating in front of your eyes when you close them, like a cinema screen! You picture things in your mind.

People who say they have aphantasia - when you read a novel, can you imagine what the characters and settings look like in your head?

@CrumbsThatsQuick

What does seeing mean to people? When I close my eyes, it's all black too. But I can imagine being in a specific place and what it looks like. If you can draw things from memory, you must have a minds eye.

This is what I think is going on. People are using language in different ways to mean different experiences.

How could you possibly draw a giraffe if you couldn’t picture a giraffe somehow?

@ofwarren

I can see images perfectly in my mind but that doesn't mean I can control my hands to replicate that image.

Same.

This is what I think is going on. People are using language in different ways to mean different experiences

I agree with this. I think literally having no mind’s eye at all must be pretty rare.

@whatwasIgoingtosay it’s grey, mid tone with a slight mauve tinge… but I can’t ‘see’ it I can only tell you that from looking at it and remembering my observations at the times I’ve looked at it if that makes sense?