Do you have a "mind's eye"?

[CurlewKate]

I was just listening to a podcast where someone said they have no mind's eye- they can't visualise things in their heads. Apparently, some people can visualise something in colour and 3d, some in colour and 2d, some in black and white 2d, some just as a hazy image and some not at all-no image at all, just words. I realise that now I can't think about which I might be....I THINK I'm 3d colour, but I don't know! You?

No, absolutely nothing at all!

I can visualise in colour and 3D. Don't know if it's linked but also have an inner monologue so hear my voice when I'm reading. My husband has neither which I can't even begin to imagine. He also never remembers any dreams. Must be so dull!

I had a head injury just over 10 years ago.
It affected me very badly and I struggled to get my Doctor to take it seriously.
Tbh I've never been the same since and one of the things I lost is my mind's eye.

No as I have Aphantasia but I do access my 'third eye' through meditation sometimes!

Yes. I think I have a pretty good one.
Attention span of a gnat too.

Yes, full 3D technicolour. I was amazed when I read others haven’t got it.

Always found this so interesting! I don't know if I have one, when I try to picture a beach I can't tell if there's a beach or if I'm just thinking of the words, blue sky, warm sea, yellow sand, I honestly can't tell?!

Yes very much so, I can also 'go and have a look around a place' too. For example at the moment I'm planning a trip to Thailand and I can completely 'see' it.

Yes I definitely have one - like a movie playing in my head almost. I love reading and it often spoils films and shows based on books for me because I have such a clear picture in my mind of the characters.

Yes, 3D and colour, but not as fully realised as real life. I also have a very active inner monologue. Don’t know whether it is linked, but I am also a very vivid dreamer - both at night and day dreams. I have ADHD (diagnosed and pretty extreme) - again, don’t know how much that links in, but my inner world is busy! I too was amazed when I heard that some people don’t have these things.

I think I'm going to have to try and forget about it for a while, then try and catch myself by surprise to find out! I do have a very active inner monologue though-and he suggested that goes with no mind's eye...

I am an extremely visual person - it blew my mind to learn not everyone sees what I see! It's a useful tool to have, I use it for getting myself to sleep at night through guided, visual meditation.

This is me, to a tee!

This is how I feel!

Yes, a very good one. Our (adult) daughter can’t visualise at all.

Yep. ADHD here too but a horribly detailed mind's eye which just loves dwelling on the nastier things! It can make things difficult to tell between something I've read (and visualised very clearly), something I've been told (and visualised in every detail) and something I've actually seen for myself. I've managed to convince myself I've been to places I never have just because I've visualised them so clearly.
It makes me a very unreliable narrator. But I'm a novelist, so at least I've found a way to earn from it!

I don't know if I understand this. If you don't have it does that mean if I said to you, for instance, 'imagine a pink cat in a tree', that you can't see that image in your head? If so, that blows my mind.

Nope, not at all

I think so...

If you said that to me I can immediately see the cat, the tree, the street the tree is in, the houses in the street etc etc...

Same here with the ADHD. Pretty much constant inner monologue too.

No I don't. I can't visualise at all e.g. thinking of a friend, I struggle to "see" their face for all but a fleeting moment

No I don't. I don't have memory either. That's CPTSD for you

Nothing at all. And I have adhd. My mind is extremely busy, just not visually! Everytime I think about the variations of experience it blows my mind..

I THINK I dream visually..

I find remembering names/ people very difficult. I used to love art but could never understand why I couldn't draw from memory like other people. I only realised when I was 20 something that I was 'different' after reading a news article about it.

I constantly have conversations with people in my head. I imagine both sides of the conversation.
If i imagine a beach I probably picture somewhere I've been before. But it's easy, I don't need to see a photograph.

Those who can't - can you picture a well known photograph without physically seeing it?

I can visualise something in colour and 3d but most of the time I don't, more of the 'hazy image' thing. Not words though, I can't imagine how they could substitute for images. I don't believe as much of our thinking is actually in words as people often assume.