To ask if you see pictures in your "mind's eye"?

[MakeItRain]

I was reading about "aphantasia" and realised that it applies to me to a large extent. It's when you have no visual pictures going on in your head. So if someone says "imagine a beach, what can you see?" I was shocked to realise that some people can see the whole beach with colour and detail. Where even is this picture? I get a sort of vague sense of sand and waves, but no detail or colour. I realised it's probably linked to my appalling ability to recall faces.
What do you see if you're asked to "imagine a beach?"

bee I too have this. I remember very clearly the first time I heard all parts of a piece of musics very distinctly and in separate ‘parts’ of my brain. I was a musician and I think this happened over time - still have musician’s brain in lots of ways.

I think and remember in pictures always.

E.g: If you asked me about my garden in the house I grew up in I could tell you exactly which plants were where and see their foliage and flower colour in my head.

When I think of an event or a conversation I’ve had I “play the video” in my head

@FluffyKittensinabasket

When I read, I always imagine the characters and scenes. It’s very real.

This. I do this too. I can't not.

I find this fascinating. I can see ultra clear images in my head, or mind’s eye, and until recently presumed everyone could. So interesting!
My question is though, can you ‘see’ your own face in your mind’s eye, because as much as I try and picture my own face I just get a hazy image. So strange!?
Maybe it’s because I look in the mirror every day and so I age slightly or change every day and my brain gets scrambled and doesn’t hold on to one clear image.
Head fuck!

Nope, can’t see or imagine a single thing, it’s complete darkness. I can tell you about pictures or images I’ve seen in the past, about places I’ve been, but I can’t see them in my head.

Yep.

I can see a beach. Colours. Even hear the wind and the waves crashing.

The weather here is stormy so the beach in my head right now reflects that. I can see the light peeking through the clouds. Muted lemon, white and grey, darker clouds rolling in. The sea is dull with white tipped waves rolling in and out, ebbing and flowing. I can hear thunder in the distance. Storm is maybe 20 minutes away, over a hill in the distance to the east. The wind is whistling. My hood is up and I can hear the wind bashing it as rain starts to bash around my hood. My hands are in my pockets because it’s “spitting”
slightly. The tip of my nose is getting wet and slightly itchy but I don’t want to get my hands wet by scratching it. The wispy babyhairs peeking out my hood are getting wet.

I don’t have a puppy IRL but what the hell this is my imagination so now I have a little boxer puppy who is leaving tiny paw prints in the slightly damp sand. They are slightly ahead of my big welly prints that are making a scratchy sound alongside the little pad, pad of the puppy’s paws.

We come to a pebbled area of the beach. I know from experience that they are hard to walk on. I’m glad I’m wearing wellies but the puppy looks nervously back at me with her big sad, chocolate drop eyes and stops in her tracks, tentatively pawing one of the pebbles then backtracking.

It’s already getting much darker than it was ten minutes ago. The pup and I look at each other.

“C’mon Clover, time to go home eh? That’s a good girl.”

I’ve a vivid imagination! Always have had. It’s a blessing and a cross. I’m creative but I’m anxious. I can assume the worst. I get too hopeful sometimes. I can do very beautiful and special things for other people.

I don’t think I’d swap it if I had the choice. Random...but a friend had aphantasia and she had absolutely zero sexual fantasies . She just couldn’t.

@Herdwick

I can't visualise stuff. I find anything that requires me to very boring.

I'm excellent at arranging stuff that's physically in front of me.

So, I can't imagine how to decorate a room or visualise what I want something to look like, but if someone put a range of paint colours and furnishings etc in front of me I can do a pretty good job without too,duh effort.

Quoting myself here but oddly I also have synesthesia, so i when I think of numbers, letters or names I 'see' them in colour.

So whilst I can't imagine a beach I can tell you that three is racing green, Matthew is dark blue and the letter S is yellow.

I see clear pictures.

Imagine all the films/photos you’ve ever seen and draw on the specific image you need.

I can see myself skiing down snow, laughing in a white snow suit. I’ve never been skiing or wore a white snow suit.

I meditate a lot. Visualising things is easy for me as I practise quite a bit. Try practising

I have no "minds eye" at all....Say to me to imagine a beach and it's just blank, dark nothingness! I could describe a beach because I've been to and seen plenty but I wouldn't be seeing any pictures in my head etc...

I don't have a particularly good memory for things , I'm terrible at recognising/remembering peoples faces too.

I only realised recently that people actually "see" things when they're asked to visualise something/remember something. My sister in particular sees things practically in HD and has the best memory I've ever known.

Interesting, @HeronLanyon! Did you ever try your hand at composing? I found it very easy to do in my head but never managed to get it all down. I'd love to have a crack of some decent composing software.

My DD is like this, she cannot see images in her head. If you said 'Imagine a beach' she knows exactly what a beach is but there is no picture of it in her mind. I find it hard to relate as my mind does not work like that, but it does not seem to hold her back at all so everyone is different I guess.

I can't even 'see' my husband's face in my mind's eye, or my children's - it's very irritating! I'm also rubbish at recognising people, I think there must be a link.

I'm jealous of those with clear images!

I realised it's probably linked to my appalling ability to recall faces.

My minds eye is a blank canvas that I can paint or print anything on to, but I cannot recall faces at all. DS has Aphantasia though 🤷🏼‍♀️.

We had an interesting chat about Aphantasia and mental arithmetic earlier!

I can't visualise vague things like "a beach" at all. I can't see peoples faces unless they're standing in front of me, even my own children!!!

I am quite good at recognising places I've been before, and people I know. So I've got a good memory for people and places, I just can't bring up pictures in my mind off them.

This might explain why I hate things like guided meditation, where I'm supposed to listen to the voice and think of what they're saying. It doesn't help me in the slightest, because I try to use words to describe what they're trying to get me to visualise, then my brain works harder rather than relaxing. Both my dds have mentioned this sort of thing as well, not being able to picture things in their minds. It doesn't affect our ability to go about our lives as normal though, so I'm not that bothered.

I "know" what colour things are in my house, like my front door or things I've chosen. But I can't visualise them. I can't picture my children's faces tho I can get a flash of the odd feature. I don't know what colour my children's eyes are. Or most of my friend's probably. If I have to recall friends faces i might get a vague memory of a photo but no detail.
The ability to hear music is fascinating too but sadly I can't do that either, though I think I'm stronger at that. I always used to read revision notes out loud to help me remember things for exams. I could remember my voice reading things.

I’m very visual.
I see things like a film in my head.
I can forgets words, or lose the thread of what I’m talking about on account of the visual pictures I see.
It can be very annoying

My mind’s eye is a little fuzzy (a bit like my actual eyes without my glasses). My mind’s ear, though, is spot on. If I think about something someone has said to me, or read a text, it is in their exact voice. I sometimes write presentations for people in work, can hear them saying it as I type.

Is this linked to hearing music in colour?
Just asking, because I've heard that it's a thing...

So do those that don't "see" (vividly in colour) "hear" (in colour) instead?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

Sorry to piggyback on your thread OP, but I wondered if there was a link.

I see, but don't hear IYSWIM

I also have aphantasia, I discovered it a couple of years ago. It is quite a shock when you realise that everyone else can imagine images. Like discovering you are colour blind I’d imagine. I am also face blind.

The beach test didn’t make sense to me at first because I thought I was picturing a beach, when what I was actually doing was describing how I would draw a picture. The words sound the same but the process is different. Try the window test. Can you imagine walking around your house and counting the windows?

On the plus side I have an amazing analytical memory. I store images in words which has helped with my job as a scientist. I picture my house like a wire model, made of different shapes.

I also have become great at small talk as I don’t know who I am talking to without context.

How do you store memories, images and shapes? Can you picture or describe faces? I do feel a bit sad, but you can’t truly miss what you haven’t had and there are plus sides too.

I’m also Kinesthetic. I can “feel” when someone needs to crack their neck or has tension in their lower back even if they aren’t consciously aware. I get sympathetic pains and stuff.

I am NOT a woo person either so it’s quite freaky for me.

I presumed everyone could visualise and imagine things, it is really interesting to hear how others minds work.

I can see things as both a still picture and real life form, as if I was there and can see all the details, colours, smell and hear. A beach I would be able to see the different colours and grain of the sand, hear the waves and see the sea moving. Smell the salt in the air. I could imagine walking through the water and feeling the sensation of the water on my feet too.

Paradoxically, I’ve got very poor facial recognition
When watching a film, if there’s characters with no distinguishing features, or two look very similar, I have to ask dh if that was the person on scene 1 etc

Or if I chat to the cheese lady in Asda each week and she appears in the gym dressed in gym clothes, again unless she has strong facial or distinguishing features I might struggle to place her

Yes, I have a very strong visual imagination.

There’s a lovely bit in (if I recall correctly) Tender is the Night where one of the character has a swim, and believes that she is having the definitive swim of her life which she will always remember whenever she is called upon to recall swimming. I sometimes have that sense when I’m experiencing something, that it will be that experience which I recall in years to come when imagining something of its kind.

Actually I've realised I'm talking shit. I can recall faces (my friend has just text me and I immediately saw her face in my head), but what I can't do is recognise people out of context. I have walked past said best friend in town without recognising her. I've even done it to my own parents 😱.

I can picture us all on a lovely sandy beach though 😁.

Usually the people that can visualise things very well, love reading books, whereas people that lack this skill find books very boring. When I read a book words automatically translate into a movie. When I am into a book I get so engrossed into my inner mind movie that I ignore the entire world 😂