Page 4 | To be freaked out, Can't imagine images...

Slappadabass · 2019-10-14T18:42:16+00:00

So I came across a post on here about aphantasia, not been able to imagine or picture a image in your mind, I can't, but I'd never thought about it and thought it was the norm until now. I've been trying to picture my DC (amongst other things) in my head, I know what they look like, could give you every little tiny detail about them, but can't imagine their faces, I can't imagine anything. I don't know how I've not realised people can do it but I can't until now. AIBU unreasonable to be freaked out? [shock] apparently there's a fair few people on here with aphantasia, anyone?

tmh88 · 14/10/2019 21:33

I have this, noticed it from a thread I read on here once too! Freaked me out for ages! I try my best to get an image but just can’t and I don’t get how people can!!

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 14/10/2019 21:34

Don’t get me started on why Wednesday is greeny yellow (it just is, right?)

Mollpop · 14/10/2019 21:34

I have it. I can't draw, I can't visualise anything and if I ever had to do a police photofit I wouldn't stand a chance.
For A long time, I didn't believe that other people could visualise. To me it makes absolutely no sense. How can you "see" something when your eyes are closed?

AloneLonelyLoner · 14/10/2019 21:34

This is so great. I mean to read others stories of this.
There has been a study at Exeter university which my doc mentioned to me a while ago, but it's interesting to hear other people who have the same thing.

TheVanguardSix · 14/10/2019 21:35

This is fascinating. The only time I've ever come across this (not knowing the name but now understanding what it is after reading this thread) is with my uncle who once told us that he hardly ever dreamed and if he did, it was in black and white and he couldn't remember his dreams at all other than the lack of colour. He could not visualise interiors, like his house, a beautiful cottage in Maine he'd known since birth. He couldn't visualise people. He could describe everything but not see it in his mind's eye.
He is retired now, but was a Statistics Prof at one of the top American universities. Brilliant man. Carefree, unburdened, was able to just make sharp, good decisions without going into emotional contortions. He is very focused and driven. Nothing gets in his way.

I am the complete opposite.

Original poster

Slappadabass · 14/10/2019 21:35

It's crazy how everyone's minds work so differently. I hadn't thought about it until recently, I just presumed people's minds worked the same.

I'm feeling less weird now!

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raspberryk · 14/10/2019 21:37

Well bugger me I wonder if this is why I don't recognise anyone, can't do mental arithmetic, don't have an "internal map" so I get lost easily and it takes me years to learn a route. Definitely never understood the whole "imagine a beach" meditation.

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 14/10/2019 21:41

I never recall anyone’s faces. Terrible really - especially if they are out of context.

Fink · 14/10/2019 21:42

With the dreaming, I hardly ever remember my dreams, and certainly wouldn't remember anything visual. But when I was pregnant I had vivid dreams, to the extent that I sometimes woke up confused about whether something had really happened or I had only dreamt it. So, since if I had really been present at a scene I would have seen it, I made the assumption that my dreams must be visual. I've still never had a memory of an image from a dream since then, but I continue to work on the understanding that there are probably pictures in there somewhere. There are definitely no pictures in my daydreams, only words.

IamMadameX · 14/10/2019 21:50

I have this too and never really thought about it, until read about it on here.

My memory is terrible, I very rarely dream or don't remember them! I can't remember names, people faces, street names.

I have lived on this street for 30 years but couldn't tell you road names off it. No use asking me for directions! I don't remember pub names and that's not because off drink! My oh will say let's go to so so pub and have no idea where it is

Him and his Dad have conversations about how to get somewhere, and look at me odd as I don't remember, town, road names etc

I get my left and right mixed up, luckily I can't drive. If walking locally I do know how to get somewhere, just couldn't tell someone else how to get there.

It does annoy me that my memory is so rubbish, can't remember what I did yesterday, never mind in my childhood

64sNewName · 14/10/2019 21:52

I am always amazed by how many people must be reading threads like this to generate such a lot of responses when, presumably, it’s a thing that applies only to a minority of people. Would love to know the stats or figures involved.

I can visualise things pretty well. It’s a bit impressionistic sometimes, but I’m finding it very hard to imagine what life would be like without images in my head.

Shoobydoo123 · 14/10/2019 21:55

I’m sure I have it ..I can’t DP has his hair cut or memorably shaved his moustache off and I don’t notice because its still ‘him’ ..I know the basics of what he looks like (after 25 years) but couldn’t draw a picture of him. I can’t ‘count sheep‘ as the effort of trying and failing to paint a picture wakes me up. I’m also rubbish at envisaging what new clothes or furniture will look like. It drives me And my partner mad. Here’s the article that convinced me

Aphantasia: A life without mental images www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34039054

RoryGillmoresEvilTwin · 14/10/2019 21:57

This is me.
I can't 'picture' anything.
When I try to its almost like I imagine the words rather than the images.
In fact, just trying to picture things, people/places (including dc) makes me feel a bit weird and headachey but not painful...
Very weird!

marvellousnightforamooncup · 14/10/2019 22:03

If you can't picture anything, what happens when you read a book? That's so odd to think the prose wouldn't conjure vivid images in your mind.

RoryGillmoresEvilTwin · 14/10/2019 22:10

I read an awful lot but never have images in my mind from it.
This could explain why I forget the books I've read.
I struggle to explain finer plot points because I literally forget them within a short time of reading them.

I also never dream, or if I do I never remember them.
I'm feeling very odd now!

YesIReallyDoLikeRootBeer · 14/10/2019 22:18

When my now 28 year old son was little (like maybe around 9) he told me that reading was boring. I said how can reading be boring, you imagine the story in your head and its so exciting. He responded "you imagine the story in your head?" At the time I just assumed he did not realized that a person does this when they read. Now I'm wondering if maybe he has this and COULD NOT imagine a story in his head. Next time I talk to him I'm going to ask him about visualizing things in his head.

Bythesea315 · 14/10/2019 22:25

I can't see anything at all no matter how hard I try or don't try , but I do have vivid dreams where I can see everything in great detail

Moreisnnogedag · 14/10/2019 22:34

Wow I’d never heard of this. I’m in the overly imaginative group - I can really clearly picture things in my head and can truly freak myself out. Horror movies are out now as I’m older I just get scared.

But i am terrible at imagining people’s faces. In front of me I know if I’ve seen a patient or not, but I struggle describing people even colleagues who I have worked with for years. I now pick one discernible feature and remember that.

I see sounds too, not as much as some people, but listening to music with my eyes closed is great

ThreeLittleDots · 14/10/2019 22:36

Those those who can't 'see images' in their mind, can you imagine / mentally recreate noises, sensations, smells at all?

Hollyhobbi · 14/10/2019 22:38

I have the worst sense of direction in the world. My daughters are amazed that I can come out of a shop and not know whether to turn left or right! I live and work in Dublin City beside some very historic buildings and parks and I'm always being asked for directions. I have to apologise and tell them to ask someone else cause God only knows where I'd send them! I've worked in the same building for years and can get out of a lift on the wrong floor or forget which way to turn after I get out. My daughters joke that I need a GPS!

DaveMyHat · 14/10/2019 22:42

I can't visualise either. I've only realised over the last few years that some other people actually can. I am autistic and suspected (by me and my dp not a medical diagnosis) dsypraxic . I think that these things are related (or at least in my case).

A pp mentioned that they couldn't do mental arithmetic without visualising. That is interesting to me as I have always been very good at maths in general but my mental arithmetic is shockingly bad. Perhaps lack of visualisation could be why.

Original poster

Slappadabass · 14/10/2019 22:44

@ThreeLittleDots I've just tried imagining a sound, a sensation and a smell. Nothing, didn't know people could do that either!!

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DaveMyHat · 14/10/2019 22:44

I have the worst sense of direction in the world. My daughters are amazed that I can come out of a shop and not know whether to turn left or right! I live and work in Dublin City beside some very historic buildings and parks and I'm always being asked for directions. I have to apologise and tell them to ask someone else cause God only knows where I'd send them! I've worked in the same building for years and can get out of a lift on the wrong floor or forget which way to turn after I get out. My daughters joke that I need a GPS!

I am exactly the same! I have had to call dp before and ask him how to get home from the corner shop by the house we had lived in for 3 years at the time. I don't know my left and right either, I do but I have to think about it every time and usually secretly pretend I have a pen in my hand because I know I hold pens in my right hand.

DaveMyHat · 14/10/2019 22:46

The only thing in my head is like my own "inner" voice. I think in thoughts that speak, but I don't "hear" them. I just think them.

muddledmidget · 14/10/2019 22:47

My mum, sisters and I all have this. Like previous posters, I couldn't understand being told to count sheep to go to sleep, and have no idea how people can work with police sketch artists. Even if I tried to describe my husband of 12 years I don't think I'd get further than he has a head with all the usual features. I also have face blindness, Love Actually was the worst film, I didn't realise there were several male actors, I thought he was a cheat....