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?

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

No

@Charley50 😂 that made me laugh, I’ve wasted so many hours of my life sitting in yoga classes and the like wondering what the fuck the point was in sitting there getting annoyed at not being able to see the a fictional sunset, and equally not understanding why everyone else seemed so content sitting there feeling equally mystified!

What really blows my mind is not that some people don't have a mind's eye but that some people don't have an internal monologue. How does that work???

@JaninaDuszejko

What really blows my mind is not that some people don't have a mind's eye but that some people don't have an internal monologue. How does that work???

Yes. I have an internal monologue. Is it an autistic thing?

When I imagine things it's not a still image. Even if the scene isn't changing the image is kind of floating about in my head. So it would make it hard to focus on it and draw it. Reading this post made me doubt I could really see things. I was questioning my imagination 😂

I’m the same. I only realised recently that other people can actually visualise things and it still baffles me. If your eyes are closed, how can you “see” anything. I honestly don’t understand it

@bookworm14 no, I can’t imagine what anything looks like when I’m reading. If I really enjoy a book I create a conceptual feeling of the world and will feel immersed in it while I reading but there are no images. I can feel disappointed if I see a book made into a film and it’s doesn’t match my sense of the book, but it’s not a visual thing for me

I can't see images either. I only realised recently that people are generally able too and that's why some things are so hard for me. (I have asd)

[quote Aphantasia]@Charley50 😂 that made me laugh, I’ve wasted so many hours of my life sitting in yoga classes and the like wondering what the fuck the point was in sitting there getting annoyed at not being able to see the a fictional sunset, and equally not understanding why everyone else seemed so content sitting there feeling equally mystified![/quote]

Oh yes 🤦‍♀️ 'imagine a beautiful....' that thing never comes.

I find this so interesting. I have an extremely vivid mind’s eye and can also accurately ‘hear’ music in my head. I tend to ‘see’ things like numbers and days of the week as certain colours, and visualise time as a literal timeline running in front of me and behind me. I can’t imagine what it must be like not to be able to imagine things! Clearly people cope fine without it though…

@Itsnotover

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

No

No, I don't either. I get a feeling from the book and a sense. I can not picture it though. Or the characters

[quote Aphantasia]@Charley50 😂 that made me laugh, I’ve wasted so many hours of my life sitting in yoga classes and the like wondering what the fuck the point was in sitting there getting annoyed at not being able to see the a fictional sunset, and equally not understanding why everyone else seemed so content sitting there feeling equally mystified![/quote]
To be fair, I can visualise a landscape in my mind's eye but during a group meditation I'm never following the meditation, I'm usually thinking about sex .

See, I dream that a set of circumstances happen to me but I never actually see those things happen. It's like someone tells me in words and I can wake up thinking it happened but there are no pictures.

@Colinthedaxi faceblindness! Yes! I am utterly useless at remembering people’s faces and quite often don’t recognise people if I see them out of the context in which I know them, it’s mortifying. I once worked with a colleague for a month on a project and at the launch event went up and introduced myself to them as if it was the first time I’d met them. I was beyond scundered when he asked if I was joking (I still didn’t recognise him until he told me his name)

I think I might have this. But I’m not sure. I just know that it makes me feel very frustrated when I read these threads.
When I try and see something in my mind, I think I am just recalling memories of places, people etc., not necessarily creating a new ‘vision’ of them. Is that the same? I certainly can’t zoom in like with a camera or a touch screen.

Just blackness for me too. Can’t draw for toffee

I can't draw
If I read a book I don't picture the characters or settings but I speed read so maybe that's why?
If I try to visualise something like I dunno, a field I know well.. I can see it but vaguely? So the shape of it, the gate, but I couldn't tell you bars on the gate or the gate fastening etc

I do imagine characters and places in books though is that a visualisation? It just sounds so much more tangible when described by others.

@JaninaDuszejko 😱 see if I could visualise previous conquests if never leave the house 😂😂

I’m an artist too, but drawing from a visual memory doesn’t really work as well as drawing from life because it’s not like I’m looking at a photo of something - it’s always an interpretation. Also, details are focused, some are hazy, but the general image is there.

Do you dream?

I can’t visualise anything. I’m not sure that I’d want to either. Don’t you sometimes get unpleasant images of bad experiences that you can’t control?

I am hyperphantasic. I have mad, vivid dreams, glorious technicolor, cast of thousands, bloody exhausting sometimes. My memories are very visual, too.

The way I think, it's sort of like I have a whole load of different bands running concurrently, and different ones are at the top concurrently. A lot of it's visual, but there's usually some music running, and I think in words too. It depends what I'm thinking about. Mathsy stuff can be quite visual rather than words.

I can imagine an bluebell clearly, and could draw it, though it probably wouldn't come out perfect - I don't have the drawing/painting skills to be a hyper-realistic artist, though I could probably do it well enough that it would be recognisably a bluebell.

8 haven't done any drawing or painting for years.

I have just discussed this with DH as he is a visual thinker, works in design and keen amateur artist.

We both think you see it in broad brush, generalised form with eg approximate distribution of limbs, size relative to other objects etc. DH has been studying anatomy to help with life drawing and figures. He says it has been about proportions, nailing down fine detail about how different body parts fit together and move, the feasible range of movement. He is good at drawing but has only recently got better at drawing people. His anatomy study has helped significantly.

When I think back to a game we played with friends a few years ago as a drinking game, we had eg 1 min to draw a panda. It turned out we were all hazy on the details of what a panda actually looks like when we had to commit it to paper. Everyone had done the black/white facial patterning differently, some comically so. They were so different we had to google a picture of a panda to see who was closest.

So I think it is like reading. Once you are a fluent reader, you don’t actually read the words. Instead you are recognising pattern and the shape of the word. It’s the same with a panda: most of us retain enough general information about key features to recognise one immediately and visualise it in broad terms but we don’t see the individual features in detail. If you’re a zoo keeper that has to differentiate between Bin-Bin and Li-Li in the panda enclosure you will have a more secure grasp of those details.

@Imabitbusyatthemoment

I think I might have this. But I’m not sure. I just know that it makes me feel very frustrated when I read these threads. When I try and see something in my mind, I think I am just recalling memories of places, people etc., not necessarily creating a new ‘vision’ of them. Is that the same? I certainly can’t zoom in like with a camera or a touch screen.

When you think of a person, do you see their face or even an outline of them? Some people have a stronger mind's eye than other people. Some see the things they are imaging very clearly and other people see things vaguely.

I’m the same as you Aphantasia. I am an artist and I can’t visualise. Other family members can.I also have a fried who is an artist and can’t visualise
Like you I can draw things and get them correct without the visualisation