To not be able to picture things in my head?

[FedoraTheExplora]

I know I'm not BU, but shamelessly posting here for traffic as I've wondered all my life if there was anyone else like me out there!

So, I can't form images in my head. It's kind of hard to explain, but my memory and thoughts are entirely words - I can't picture anything, not even my daughters face it doesn't cause me any problems really, but I have a horrible memory I.e. I don't know what colour car my dads been driving for 10 years, or what colour the walls are in my mums home, that I lived in for 10 years up until about a year ago. I've tried to google it, but I can't find anything, and I'm tempted to ask one of my psychology lecturers, but I'm a bit too shy and it's a bit too weird.

So MN, do any of you have this? Have you ever heard of it? Even a name for this condition (?) would be interesting to me..

[Meow75]

Yep, this is me.

The reason I find it so hard is I cannot envisage my Mum's face, I need a picture. She died as a result of breast cancer in 1998, when I was 22.

[MadauntofA]

I emailed the professor as my score suggested the severe end, but never heard anything!

[FedoraTheExplora]

I have this, can't picture places/ people. Don't "see" dreams but just know what has happened. I'm shocking with directions, and peoples faces. I would be useless as a witness to a crime!!! It was a revelation when I saw the article from the bbc when it came out. I wonder if we compensate in another way?

Yes! I am the same.

I have always been of above average intelligence academically - and the maths whizz poster is obviously similar. Have the other sufferers on this thread always found themselves excelling at school; maybe in maths, or being able to remember facts extraordinarily well?

[workedoutforthebest]

OP, this is a really interesting thread. It amazes me how we all process information differently.

William, I'm the same with getting lost. I have worked in the area for well over a decade & decided to take a different route home. I may have well been driving in a different city, I had no clue where I was, even though I have taken this route home other times. I also am no good with names, but great with faces. If you were to say 'the shortish lady who has a few freckles', I could tell you. If you described the same person, saying 'Linda who works in your local corner shop', I would have no clue.

Oh, and I am good with number plates. I could tell you my neighbours' plates. Not because I've actively memorised but must be the main thing about their cars that have stuck in my head, same with my relatives cars

[EyeoftheStorm]

DH had a friend at uni like this. She didn't realise until her late teens that other people didn't see the things in their mind's eye as text like she did. She always wondered what the drama teacher meant when she said imagine you're a tree. She was very clever - top of year at uni - and won awards. Very successful in her job too.

[AShiverofSharks]

I'm at university again, and I'm averaging about 90% in my exams, on very little revision . I have an incredibly good memory for facts.

[twirlypoo]

Oh! I am the same! I've just closed my eyes to try and visualise Ds face and I really struggled (that's really sad!) he's sat beside me so I've just stared at him and kissed him to make up for it (he is totally weirded out by me now )

So can the majority of you all 'see' stuff when you think about it? That seems so weird to me!

Oh, and my memory is crap too. I write everything down or I am hopeless.

[Meow75]

I am excellent with facts, good mathematician, spent 16 years as a Science teacher and was always saddened as the emphasis moved away from scientific facts.

I remember being given the task in art class when I was in year 9 (and DESPERATE to drop Art once I'd chosen my options) of having to create my interpretation of having a famous painting described I was hopeless - not an artist anyway - but I couldn't get a handle on what was required. Made me feel even worse when my best friend was awesome at it.

[DigestiveBiscuit]

Yes, reading a book, etc is like watching TV in my head!

[Meow75]

This was the described picture.

[DiseasesOfTheSheep]

I can picture places vividly but not people. I can't recognise people, even those I know well, without some other trigger (how they walk/talk/dress etc).

I'm not dyslexic. I have a good verbal memory, cruised through PG level exams etc. But ultimately, less intelligent than the average sheep...

[twirlypoo]

Wow digestive that's so cool! Is that normal then? I love to read but I skip the descriptive passages as they bore me I did english lit at uni too, but it was the analysis of text that I enjoyed. This is fascinating!

[IWannaHoldYourHand]

It's never occurred to me that people can think in images. I thought things like counting sheep were just sayings

[FedoraTheExplora]

Yes, reading a book, etc is like watching TV in my head!

I'm so jealous! Yet I love reading. I've always been able to read abnormally fast as well, even as a child. I wonder if this is because my brain doesn't waste time picturing the scenes. My DP just got home from work and I ran to the door to tell him I'm not alone in my weird non-picturey mind!

[FedoraTheExplora]

I remember being given the task in art class when I was in year 9 (and DESPERATE to drop Art once I'd chosen my options) of having to create my interpretation of having a famous painting described I was hopeless - not an artist anyway - but I couldn't get a handle on what was required. Made me feel even worse when my best friend was awesome at it. 

Yes! I'm not a bad drawer, if I'm exactly copying a simple picture. But being asked to draw a rabbit or something from memory is just impossible to me.

I'm so surprised to hear how common this is!

[bakeoffcake]

I have been a terrible witness to a crime!

I saw someone running out of our neighbours house with her handbag and jump into a car. I phoned the police and had to go and make a statement.

It was sooooo embarrassing. They were showing me photos of people and I did not have a clue other than it was "a man with a smallish car". Can you imagine that description on Crimewatch

[DiseasesOfTheSheep]

I like descriptive passages about places. I find descriptions of people baffling - I can add all the bits they say together like a police photofit, but it never gives me a picture of an actual character. They're just a blurry mess without distinct features. I can picture what they're doing and where they are though. I just don't think people are very important to me!

[DiseasesOfTheSheep]

Bakeoff, that's happened to me too! Can you describe the man? "Er. Not really. I don't remember him having any distinct features. He just was. Fortunately, I do remember the make, model and plates of his car..."

[MyCatIsTryingToKillMe]

I just did that BBC test and it suggest I had hyperphantasia

[WilLiAmHerschel]

I've always been able to read abnormally fast as well, even as a child.

Me too! And yes I always did well in school, with little effort and revision.

[FedoraTheExplora]

I found some more questions that relate to the condition, though they are based around other senses. How do people do with these?

Conjure up an image of a garden there are birds in the trees; the grass has been freshly cut, can you smell the grass?
Still imagining that scene, you see the birds in the trees, can you hear the birds tweeting?
You walk through gardens, and find an apple tree, you take an apple and bite into it, can you taste the apple?
You trip over a rock and fall to the ground, you graze your knee on the stone path, can you feel the graze?

I can't imagine any except the taste of the apple.

[twirlypoo]

Yes!! Haha, this is hilarious - I am also a fast reading crap witness!

Police: can you describe his hair?
Me: errr, I think he had some.... He just looked like a man, you know?!

[MadauntofA]

I get the taste of the apple but doesn't quite taste right, I can't conjure the rest

[TheDevilMadeMeDoIt]

I couldn't describe DP to the police if he went missing.
If someone says 'cat' I don't see a furry thing with four legs, I see the letters C A T.
My life is a constant mental monologue of endless words.
I love maths and engineering.
I much prefer text or reference books to fiction - I have no interest in trying to visualise what someone else has imagined.
I am rubbish at visual instructions - flatpack furniture is DP's department.
I can't drive. I can't interpret visual information and have to stop at a roundabout and verbalise to myself what's happening. By which time the traffic's moved and I have to start again.
I have no interest in ever seeing the Mona Lisa.
I can remember words, sentences, conversations very accurately.

I think I'd better try the test!

[DiseasesOfTheSheep]

I can't smell the grass but I can place little still photos of bird species I'd expect to find in the trees in some rather sketchy looking trees.

I can't hear the birds.

I can't taste the apple. What the hell does an apple taste like? I eat them all the time, too!

I can't feel the graze. I can visualise a rocky path though.

"He just looked like a man, you know". I say this all the time. People look at me like I've grown another head.