To ask you all about your minds eye?

[GrampieRabbit]

I've had a really long running thread about this a few years ago, but I wanted to revisit it - firstly because I find it really interesting, and secondly for dissertation ideas

So I don't have a minds eye. I couldn't picture a tree in my head, or a house, or my baby's face. I couldn't tell you 100% which colour my room is painted in, or what colour my dads car is. I literally think in words.

This means I have trouble with directions, even to places I've been several times. My memory is absolutely terrible - my long term memory is practically non existent.

Does anyone else experience similar? There's a test you can take here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-340390544*

I know I want to do my dissertation on this condition. I'm so fascinated by it, and have been ever since I realised it was actually a thing (on Mumsnet!)

But I want it to be on aphantasia AND something. I was thinking aphantasia and memory.

But I remember that last time I had a thread on this, Mumsnetters with aphantasia (and myself) read extraordinarily quickly, and always had done from a young age. So I was thinking maybe I could test the strength of participant's minds eyes (couldn't work out the grammar for that phrase!), and then timing them whilst they read something. But might have to include some comprehension questions I guess to check they've actually read it.

Then I started thinking about the fact that people said they had always read quickly - so is this something we're born with? Could I figure out a way to test kids for it? Maybe a little too complicated?

My dissertation proposal's due in a couple of days. It can be really vague - I could probably just get away with writing 'aphantasia', but I want to get paired with the most appropriate supervisor, hence the forward thinking. Am waiting on DD to go to bed then I'll research some more, but these are just some initial ideas.

Please, please share your experiences of aphantasia and thoughts on interesting dissertation ideas

Very interesting. I have a very vivid mind's eye, can and always have been able to read very quickly, but have astonishingly poor spatial awareness and sense of direction. It's something of a family joke.

Never having heard of aphantasia, it's now made me aware that I think in images and I was completely unaware if this fact. I'm really happy that I can see images, but I can only see images when my eyes are open, not when they're closed. I'm a slow reader and I do remember struggling to read at the teacher's desk when I was very young. I've often wondered if I'm much slower at reading subtitles, film credits, etc and now I know that I probably am?

Interesting.
I have a very visual memory, in the test I scored 8 out of 8, hyperphantatasia. I can clearly see things in my mind, visualise people I know well, places, rooms. I can also imagine things very visually.

I'm a very fast reader and have been so from an early age. I always have a picture of what I'm reading and I agree that the image becomes fixed so if I read that book again years later, it's the same.

I'll take that further and say that I often fantasize about imaginary houses and once imagined, the picture of that house doesn't change.

OP - is this dissertation at undergraduate or postgraduate level?
It's certainly an interesting topic. If I was doing this I would be interested in a link between aphantasia and social communication skills, e.g. empathy - something like that.
I scored 26/40

Adding that I have poor spatial awareness but am brilliant at directions and map reading and can visualise streets. I'm quite good at drawing so I think that helps.

40/40 not 8/8

I have complete aphantasia and bored people stupid when the thread was on here a few months ago. DS1 also has the conditional my pluses are:
I am a very fast reader, fiction, non-fiction and academically research I can read quickly and take it in. I do get quite bored with very descriptive prose (probs my because I can't picture it).
I am very practical, good at fixing stuff and great In a crisis, I think because I don't have a visual pre-conception of what something should look like, I'm able to adapt what I know and have to a situation.
I'm a good driver, I don't get distracted and I've never had a minor bump in 25 years of driving.
I absolutely love nature and strikingly visual things, I think because I can't picture them and each animal or insect seems very new and exciting.

What I'm not good at:
I cannot do anything that involves manipulating 3D shapes, so I wasn't great at the mechanics part of furthers maths a level.

I will never remember someone's face the first or second time I see them, I would be a horrendous witness to a crime. My brain can remember verbal links with visual memory, so I can think eg. Claire, school mum, media specs,blonde bob, so I get a memory of who that person is, but still no picture.

I also get bored quite easily!

I remember speaking to my mum about it when I first found out and she found it very sad that I couldn't picture my late dad. But there's always pictures and I quite like my clear uncluttered brain.

Does anyone else have images in their heads linked to music? My mind will often make a recording of where I am when I hear a song I like, so the next time I hear it (and sometimes every time I hear it again) I get a replay in my head of where I was/the journey etc.

I thought everyone did, my daughter does but my DH and DS's don't?

Is there a gender tendency I wonder?

Yes Storm, I get that place/song thing all the time. It can be quite emotional.

So do people actually"see" these things rather than just know what they look like? I mean, if you asked me to draw an oak leaf or a duck, I could draw them, I know what they look like, but I can't close my eyes and see an image of them.
I can taste things though, so if I thought of a sausage or a peach, I can get the taste in my mouth. Sometimes I get random flavours floating around in my brain and have to sort of stop and mentally sort through until I identify it as marmite or lime or whatever it might be. Does this have a name or does everyone do it?
I am a fast reader and always have been
I am fine with directions and usually, if I have been somewhere once, even a long time ago, I will know where I am if I go again, because I can see it in front of me. But l couldn't recall in advance " when I get to X I need to turn left at the pub and keep going until I see the house with the blue door...."

Well I didn't know this was a thing, I just knew I didn't see things the way dh does but not the extent, it would appear he can actually see things whereas I really really don't! Ds tried to teach me to meditate by visualising the colours of the rainbow, this is when I realised something was different as I find it almost impossible to the point it hurts my head to try and do it. Dh has tried to describe things to me many times and I've got cross and said you know you need to actually show me, now I realise why. I am a speed reader and hoover up books, I don't visualise characters or their settings but I can get irritated if they don't 'look right' if a book is made into a film. Despite me apparently being in the 5%, my sense of direction is quite good though.

Oh, I have that! Places that suddenly come into my head. The view from the pavement sitting in a road I used to play in as a kid suddenly flashing in my head while I'm working or something.

I find music and voices far easier to conjure up in my head than visualisations. I can hear whole songs in my head and think of exact voices and things people said in TV shows a from when I was a kid.

I think this is fascinating. I have very limited visual imagination in terms of colour and memory for things like faces, but it's very spatial (think 1980s CAD). When I look at houses on right move I always look at the plans so that I get them. I love maps and puzzles and concepts. I am a fast reader and get through a lot of books. I can see how physical objects will fit in a space and I can buy say a cushion knowing it will match my sofa but can't actually see it in my head.

When I read a book I feel the emotions but the people are fairly shadowy outlines with vagueness. So, when I read Harry Potter, I had a vague idea of Hermione's hair being curly as a concept, so it would seem weird to watch the film and see someone with straight hair playing the role.

I have a better memory for voices than faces which I think comes from listening to a lot of radio 4. I sometimes don't recognise people if they change their hair dramatically. I take care to smile at people in case I know them.

I think I do have a spatial memory, but it's in outline and not coloured in, without lots of detail. I can easily learn things by rote as well, but only if I have repeated them (not just listening). I think my memory is "active" in that I learn when I have physically done something.

I am interested to know how people visualise how time elapsed in their mind. I see the week as a squashed oval, with Monday to Friday going along the top and Saturday and Sunday along the bottom, for example.

I scored 39/40 Ostentatious. I answered honestly and had to say I would have trouble visualising a clear rainbow .

Shape simulation tests where p's are shown sentences and pictures and have to say whether they match or not may help you here as they are based around the idea that we automatically create visual representations of sentences we've read. It sounds like a really interesting idea for a dissertation, do you have anyone in cognitive psych who seems approachable? Maybe you could tell them what you're interested in and they could help shape it into a manageable project. Good luck, this is always my favourite part of research with all the ideas flying around!

The time elapsed question is interesting. The test thing said I had hyperphantasia (40/40). I wouldn't 'see' the week like that. I'd see it in a series of memories if I was looking back, so Monday we went to the shops, Tuesday DS didn't nap all day and was stroppy, Wednesday we had curry for dinner etc etc etc

I was an early reader and read fast. I also have a very visual minds eye, am autistic and experience synaesthesia.
You probably don't want me for your research!

11/40 oh dear!

This is interesting and I've never heard of it before. I can't picture things in my head at all and the closer (emotionally) I am to someone the less likely I am to be able to remember details about their appearance. I can picture things in my head by remembering what a photo or picture of that person/thing looks like. So in order to picture my dog I have to remember what the photo of her by my bed looks like.

Years ago before the films came out I read lord of the rings but had to give up on book 3 I think as I simply could not imagine the stuff being described and it became too hard to follow the plot.

I'm a quick reader but that's cos I tend to scan the pages and just absorb the important bits so yes it's probably because I'm not imagining the screen. Actually I've just realised I get really annoyed if an author spends too long describing the setting of the story, and have even stopped reading if they waffle on about the details too much.

I do love reading though and will read everything, signs on walls, backs of menus, leaflets, anything, but don't ask me what Ive just read cuz I won't be able to tell you

I am totally the opposite to you Grampie. I visualise things in enormous detail. I wonder if there's a link between mind's eye visualisation and suggestibility. I've had quite lot of hypnotherapy and it relies heavily on being able to visualise situations. So that would be my research.

I have aphantasia. I have an awful memory for certain things, like where I've put things and I only remember things like someone's hair colour or eye colour if I've explicitly noted them to myself. I have an unusually good memory for most other things though. I'm a teacher and I'm generally good with names. I read really quickly and it had never occurred to me that this might be why but it makes sense now that you mention it. I still love reading though and books always came alive to me even though I don't "see" the story.

Weeds So do people actually"see" these things rather than just know what they look like? I mean, if you asked me to draw an oak leaf or a duck, I could draw them, I know what they look like, but I can't close my eyes and see an image of them. I can see them. I can imagine what they feel like 'in my head' too. I never forget a face. Rather embarrassingly I will greet people I have met briefly like an old friend . I also remember little details about them linked to their face, mannerisms etc that I have stored somewhere in my frazzled head . Comes in handy at work though. I work with Older people and can remember vast details of their lives to spout out when necessary.

Oh my goodness I have this andnever knew there was a name for it. I cannot picture things in my head, even my children. I am better at picturing pictures - it's easier to visualise a picture of my mum that I have on the mantelpiece than actual her, but still I can't see her all in one go.

I do have face blindness as well. I do read very quickly and always have. I have always been able to remember big chunks of text and have done well in exams where this is required.

I can "visualise" for want of a better word, taste and touch fine. I can imagine the feel of my children's hair, or the taste and feel of an orange, but can't see them, although I could describe them.

I do visualise when I dream, I sometimes have very vivid dreams and definitely see things, but even then touch often plays a big part.

Can I ask, which of you can draw and is it any good.
I can draw a tree for toffee, unless it's made up of shapes, and I remember the order to draw them.
I can read a book and feel I am part of it, but just realized if I try to close my eyes even though I know what a tree is and how it should look it's not there.

I can find my way somewhere even if I only went there once.
fantastic memory, can see a film once and never watch it again as I can remember it, same with book a novel a day, but never reread them.

Both my DH and DS1 it turns out have no visualisation (myself and younger DS have strong visualisation). DH only fully realised after listening to a radio 4 programme a few years ago and recognised himself. He does dream - but mostly as 'speech' - not really in 'images'. I read quickly and a book is always completely in images for me (an on-going film in my head!). He reads slowly imo - but he saviours 'words' and remembers most conversations exactly - i.e. he always recalls what was said. He did well in exams - particularly where a teacher 'spoke' clearly and well on the subject! I think I will ask him to post ideas for you - it will be first hand then!!