Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Do you have a "mind's eye"?

237 replies

CurlewKate · 10/02/2025 09:53

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?

OP posts:
Cattery · 10/02/2025 13:15

CitizenZ · 10/02/2025 11:23

This is blowing my mind! My inner monologue dictates everything to me, and I can't understand how people other than babies can think without having one. The minds eye thing, I also thought everyone had, or am I understanding it correctly? So if you can't visualise things, how do you recall your memories? When I remember something, I'm there watching it

Exactly this! I have a deep inner life/world. I can visualise perfectly. I thought we all could x

quirkychick · 10/02/2025 13:16

I can see routes too and if I've been there before can usually find my way again. I often know which direction I'm facing too.

I was amazed when I found out people didn't visualise things. My dad can't picture things, though.

HollyAnnLee · 10/02/2025 13:21

I didn't even know this existed but I can see like a drawing of what I'm thinking about if that makes sense😅

But the inner monologue thingy blows my mind like how is their people out there that don't actually hear themselves thinking it's crazy to me cuz I'm ADHD😂 so my mind is blown

ForeverDelayedEpiphany · 10/02/2025 13:26

TheSeaOfTranquility · 10/02/2025 13:13

I wonder if blind people have a mind's eye? So if, for example, they know what faces are like through touch (hair on top, nose in the middle, ears on each side, chin at the bottom etc), can they picture a face in their mind's eye?

And what about people who once had sight, but have lost it? Would their mind's eye be particularly well-developed because they use it all the time, I wonder?

See, I would dread losing my sight as I hate the fact I don't have a mind's eye any more. It would be hell trapped in a world of no sight and no mind's eye either.

Verv · 10/02/2025 13:27

falkandknife · 10/02/2025 12:35

They will do though but they don’t use it. That’s a different thing. It’s the semantics that confuses it. If you can hear yourself speak out loud, then a whisper, then under your breath, you can ‘hear in your head’.

Show quote history

I can hear myself speaking out loud, I can hear myself whisper, i can hear myself muttering under my breath because these things are AUDIBLE.
I do not have an internal monologue, which is big bog all to do with hearing sounds.

MugPlate · 10/02/2025 13:27

For the aphantasics: do you prefer to read fiction or non-fiction, or neither?

CarpetKnees · 10/02/2025 13:29

This blew my mind when I first came across it.
It never occurred to me that people don't picture whatever is being said. I can't get my head around how anyone would know how to follow a conversation if they can't 'see' a beach or a horse or whatever it is that is named in a conversation.

I don't dream though.
Well, I know some people don't believe this, but I am never aware of having had a dream / woken up remembering it.

discdiscsnap · 10/02/2025 13:33

I'm autistic but don't have a minds eye. If I think of something for example grass I can get a sense of it but I can't see it. If I focus really hard I can get a flash like a photo image but it's tiring to do so.

I think i have visual dreams but I'm not sure.

I'm terrible with names/faces particularly when I see people out of context. As I'm I once saw my neighbour of ten years in a pub (I was sober) and didn't recognise him.

I'm also terrible at remembering routes even ones I do regularly.

discdiscsnap · 10/02/2025 13:38

I do monologue my own life like a voice over on a sitcom. And have conversations in my head

Nothatgingerpirate · 10/02/2025 13:45

Absolutely - photographic memory.
Without that, I would have been at the last place at school and college.
Also can see letters and numbers in colour.
The mind's eye though, it's both a curse and a blessing.
You see random images of bad stuff as well, you don't get to choose, right as long you can remember.
I believe due to this I suffer from GAD and probably OCD.
😐

Verv · 10/02/2025 13:49

TheSeaOfTranquility · 10/02/2025 13:13

I wonder if blind people have a mind's eye? So if, for example, they know what faces are like through touch (hair on top, nose in the middle, ears on each side, chin at the bottom etc), can they picture a face in their mind's eye?

And what about people who once had sight, but have lost it? Would their mind's eye be particularly well-developed because they use it all the time, I wonder?

My dad is almost blind, he does have a minds eye, but it also plays tricks on him, he hallucinates different things (changing wallpaper, people, etc). Theres a condition called charles bonnet syndrome and its where the brain sort of scrambles to fill the gaps of what it thinks should be there. Apparently it comes up with really bizarre things, particularly on waking.

Edit - he had sight for most of his life, and lost it recently (glaucoma)

ForeverDelayedEpiphany · 10/02/2025 13:50

MugPlate · 10/02/2025 13:27

For the aphantasics: do you prefer to read fiction or non-fiction, or neither?

I used to absolutely love fiction when I had a mind's eye. Now, I can't get absorbed in the story much without an imagination so I prefer non-fiction.

Normallynumb · 10/02/2025 13:51

Yes a good one. I can take myself on a visual tour of places I've been, even years ago
It's useful in a supermarket as I know which shelf to go to in a supermarket!

Verv · 10/02/2025 13:52

MugPlate · 10/02/2025 13:27

For the aphantasics: do you prefer to read fiction or non-fiction, or neither?

Non, although i find fiction much easier if its been televised or made into a film - Ive recently powered through all the Strike novels, because having seen the it on TV before, i know what they look like.

NetballHoop · 10/02/2025 13:57

MugPlate · 10/02/2025 13:27

For the aphantasics: do you prefer to read fiction or non-fiction, or neither?

I much prefer fiction. I don't have an "image" of the characters in a novel though. I experience them through their thoughts.

PennywisePoundFoolish · 10/02/2025 13:58

I don't, nor does my brother.

My husband is the opposite and we've had many arguments about directions and placemarks etc, I can remember the road names but I can't connect them together. I do have a brilliant memory for entire conversations, though he's not keen on that special power either Grin

SaltyPig · 10/02/2025 13:58

MugPlate · 10/02/2025 13:27

For the aphantasics: do you prefer to read fiction or non-fiction, or neither?

I use Audible. Audio books are much more enjoyable. I prefer non-fiction but enjoyed 'The Thursday Murder Club' series recently.

PennywisePoundFoolish · 10/02/2025 14:02

MugPlate · 10/02/2025 13:27

For the aphantasics: do you prefer to read fiction or non-fiction, or neither?

I haven't been able to read fiction since I had DC2, some 17 years ago. I had pretty bad PND and I am not sure what happened, but I just can't through the 1st page. I loved it before, I was a bookworm child. I've always hated audiobooks as thr characters' voices are wrong

HRTQueen · 10/02/2025 14:04

yes I do

I was shocked when a friend told me she didn't have this (and she is very creative too which is even more surprising)

I then read up on this and was surprised that it isn't uncommon

Original poster
CurlewKate · 10/02/2025 14:04

@NetballHoop "I was told by a teacher that she could "see" words in her mind if asked to spell them which seems like witchcraft to me"

My DS has what we call his "spelling superpower"- he says he just looks at the word in his head and spells it. I missed that so much when he left home!!

OP posts:
DoloresODonovan · 10/02/2025 14:08

This thread really has the WoW factor
possibly the most fascinating I have ever encountered on here
I’m saving this to read properly later, hours of research ahead!

For myself, I have the face blindness out of context undiagnosed
although obvious condition, yet
I can carry a shade in my head and match it exactly

discdiscsnap · 10/02/2025 14:08

MugPlate · 10/02/2025 13:27

For the aphantasics: do you prefer to read fiction or non-fiction, or neither?

Love fiction I read 2/3 books a week

Davros · 10/02/2025 14:11

Temple Grandin is a famous autistic woman who thinks in pictures.
I cannot visualise and I don't have a running monologue but I do think in words. I often think of individual words as how I would type them on a keyboard or how i would write them in shorthand. I can follow routes, have a good sense of direction and can find my way around without thinking in pictures

Do you have a "mind's eye"?
FrutenGlee · 10/02/2025 14:15

Libre2 · 10/02/2025 13:00

Can I ask a question? When those of you with no mind’s eye go for a walk/run or drive somewhere in your locality (I.e somewhere you know and don’t need a Satnav for it) how do you visualise the route? In my head if I am planning a route to e.g pick up DC from an activity, I see the junctions etc in my head.

I don’t visualise the route at all. I just walk or drive to wherever it is. There’s no mental map inside that I’m following IYSWIM

I’m wondering if visual creatives have 3D. I have nothing and am terrible at trying to represent anything even right in front of me with a pencil.

Gloriainextremis · 10/02/2025 14:16

Yep, I can see the whole thing in glorious Technicolor, and with sound too. DH, on the other hand, doesn't even understand what a mind's eye is, so I don't think he has it!!

Swipe left for the next trending thread