Aphantasia

[EstoyRobandoSuCasa]

I’ve recently realised that I have this to a large degree. If I shut my eyes and try to picture an apple (or anything else), I tend to see something vague and blurry which disappears or fades if I try to focus on it. Sometimes a more vivid image flashes into my mind, but it’s as though I see it out of the corner of my eye and then it’s gone again!

I’m wondering how common this is. How clearly can you see things in your mind’s eye?

I hadn’t thought about that before but yes, I can ‘feel’ the cold glass and ‘taste’ the cola. I’m not sure I can imagine smells very well though…..

Our brains are amazing and fascinating!

I am exactly the same. I cannot see images, it's all dark. But I can recall moments with a lots of detail, the words, who said what, where everyone was sitting and what clothes everyone was wearing. I even remember feelings and thoughts at the time. But if I try to see this as an image, I can't. And I do have vivid colorful dreams, so when sleeping I see images. But cannot see an apple if I close my eyes and try to see an apple.

In my 40s and today reading this, it's the first time I learn there is an spectrum on mental images. This is fascinating.

I can just about hear the bubbles popping. And I can see the colour of the cola

Also, I can often "hear" voices clearly in my head, especially if I imagine them repeating something I've heard them say in real life.

I can't see faces very clearly in my mind's eye. But when I read a book, I often have a vague, disjointed idea of what the characters look like and could describe them. If any of them are later played by an actor who looks nothing like my idea of them, I feel annoyed. 😂

For example, there was one character in an 80's novel who was merely described as short. In my mind, he was also slim and fair with a short mullet and a moustache. Yet, in the film adaptation, he was played by Bob Hoskins. No, no, no!

What!? I have not thought about this before. Thinking about it now, I can picture people and sort of snapshots of places or events, but I don't think I can 'view' moving images or re-play events. No zooming in on details either; if someone said "What was Ruth wearing when you last saw her?", I could probably tell you the colour of her top and whether she wore a skirt or trousers, but I couldn't interrogate the image in my mind to say what earrings she was wearing. I can only 'see' what I've, on some level, clocked and memorised. I'm going to pay much closer attention to this in the weeks to come.

I would love to be able to visualise everything clearly and zoom in on the finer details. I'm a bit sad that I can't.

I also have terrible spatial awareness and a poor sense of direction, which must be related to this. I'm terrible at giving directions as I can't picture the whole route in my head. I often underestimate how long it will take me to walk anywhere as my idea of the route is usually shorter than the reality.

^I’m whatever the complete opposite of aphantastic is! I ‘see’ things clearly and with great detail. I also have very definite ‘voices’ for the characters and sort of ‘hear’ them
speaking as I read. I wonder if the two are related…?^

Hyperphantasic.

I do "hear" voices when I read, but some authors seem to make this easier than others, and no,I cannot explain how.

I do wonder if where you are on the spectrum affects how you take to novel reading or not.

Face blindness is prosopagnosia, @Keyboxer .

Interesting. My spatial awareness is shocking. I do prefer to learn the a route as a set of instructions and not a map. Follow the road, exit 36, go straight, first on the left, then right, then right then left and right. I prefer to memorise this than looking at a map.
I love the GPS telling me what to do, but I follow the verbal instructions rather than looking at the map.

One of my DCs has this. Literature courses in school were always a struggle, but science and maths were a refuge.

Ebearhug My DS2 is autistic (moderately disabled) He didn't learn to read until he was 10 and only started reading for pleasure 4 years ago (he's 29) He started with Harry Potter as he'd watched the films, but now reads constantly... all fantasy and sci fi, and loves it . (He reads outloud which can be a bit wearing as he has no volume switch😆)
I also love fantasy and sci fi despite not being able to visualise anything, it doesn't diminish my enjoyment at all...but then neither of us have experienced the other option!

I'm even more aphantasic than you, I don't even get the smoky almost images some people get.

My sense of direction is absolutely bloody fantastic though. People find it uncanny that I just somehow know if we've gotten turned around, or started heading in the wrong direction. I've always thought it was because I didn't build up a possibly inaccurate picture in my mind.

On another note, I was reading the other day that a positive of aphantasic is that we're much less likely to get PTSD after a traumatic event, as we can't relive the experience in the same way others can. So that's a positive!

I’m glad there’s a positive 😊

I see nothing

At all

Which was quite the realisation when I first learned about aphantasia.

I was always so confused when I had say a therapy session and they'd said to me "imagine you're on a nice relaxing beach" and I never quite understood why thinking about it was in any way useful...until my mind was blown and I discovered many other people see ACTUAL GODDAMN FUCKING IMAGES IN THEIR BRAIN???!!! 🤯

that is....unreal to me. That people actual see images in their head. It probably makes sense that I found "mental maths" so bloody hard in school! I asked my bf "when you do maths, how is that in..your brain?" And he told me he actually can see the maths written down as actual numbers to work it out??!! Like WTF???!! 😱😳

So yes very strange to me!

Though that said I have an almost constant (less though when I've remembered my ADHD meds) internal monologue and I found it incredible that some people DO NOT HAVE THAT? honestly like how do you cope without the constant commentary?!

I have it- I have a very good memory but can’t visualise anything in my head

I have it, I also have a good memory.
I know what things look like (eg a beach) but I can't actually see the beach.
I have a slight degree of face blindness too & I do believe I don't grieve in the same way as others. This made me feel guilty for a long time, but I understand it's related.
I took me 60 years to discover that others actually see things in their minds eye.
I did sometimes wonder why I didn't fantasise sexually. I presume it's related.

I have this - and I recognise myself in several of the comments made here: I can’t recall loved ones faces, I am terrible with directions (catastrophically bad), and I have face blindness if I see someone out of context.

I had hypnotherapy and struggled as I couldn’t visualise anything - but then I discovered I’m amazing with sensory details, such as feeling sand under my toes or smelling roses.

The other interesting thing is that I have no internal monologue either. I can’t quite wrap my head around the concept that people can actually hear voices inside their head!!!

I’m AuDHD so my thoughts are constant, unrelenting, and come at me from all directions without ever pausing. But these thoughts are just conscious realisations that don’t involve any kind of voice.

It makes it sounds as if inside my head is a blank void with no images and no sound 😂🤦🏻‍♀️ The reality is that I have an overloaded and busy brain, but I seem to experience thoughts in a different way to many.

If I read a book it’s as if I’m watching a film. Can do the voices in my head. Have an inner voice ( which is annoying ) and I can recall things from years ago and kind of re live it. I can visualize things and how they feel or taste or whatever.
I have a terrible sense of direction and spacial awareness though.

I can picture real things in my mind and can also imagine things and picture them too. When I read a book, once I’m really into it, my brain stops ‘reading’ the words and it almost runs as a film in my brain I’m so absorbed in it. Not sure if that makes sense as I’m obviously still reading… One drawback is that traumatic memories are also very clear and flashbacks incredibly intense.

Just read this after posting, how strange!!

Violet , yes! I couldnt sleep last night and just saw this thread. I thought that everyone could see things in the he minds eye. I didn’t realize that some can’t do it.

There's all kinds of gradations, his is pretty severe I think and linked to other things - like the spatial awareness someone mentioned. DH has no sense of direction and could get lost even in places he's been a lot, having no visual memory of how it all fits together in his head. He's decent with voices, can often recognise who's doing a TV voiceover, but he has no inner monologue himself and doesn't replay conversations or know what he did/thought at the time because there's nothing to anchor that time. He's much more 'in the moment' which can be a positive thing in many way, not dwelling on the past. But like @Cactus1001 says, there can be a sadness to it, genuinely not remembering major life events beyond the factual knowledge that it did happen to him.

I can see nothing at all in my head, but do have a constant internal monologue. I met a friend recently who I’ve not seen for a year, she’s lost 9 stone, it was only when she told me & showed me side by side photographs that I realised she was being serious, she looks like a different person! My husband totally changed our garden when I was working away for a while, put up a different colour/size fence, added a pond & a rockery, dug & planted new lawn borders, took down one of the sheds, scattered pots all around - we had a massive row as I didn’t notice & he’d worked so hard! I have a phenomenal memory & can replay conversations in my head that I had 40 years ago; everyone thinks I’m a really thoughtful person as I remember everyone’s birthday, kids/pets/spouse's names, where they went on holiday, etc. because I can ‘hear’ when they told me. But I can also recall every word we’ve exchanged, which can be a blessing & a curse!

I'm slightly aphantasic, I can just about picture something briefly if I really concentrate on it but mostly I just hear the internal monologue. DH is the opposite, he pictures things vividly.
I am very good with faces and directions though! And also with reading a map without having to turn it so it's the direction you are currently facing.
My memory for facts is very good but I don't remember a lot of events that have happened to me.

it doesn't make me sad though, and it definitely doesn't mean that I miss loved ones less when they are gone! I don't like reading verbose, descriptive books, I like ones with strong plots instead. Or non-fiction ones.

I love my minds eye. I can close my eyes and I can be standing in the middle of New York if I wanted to be. It’s very strong

I have complete aphantasia, absolutely nothing in my "minds eye", however, I can play back music in my head and recall people's voices easily - so I don't think they're linked.
I do assign voices to characters too when I'm reading fiction, but not with factual books.

I actually like my non visual mind.....