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?"

I just get very vague impressions,no colour. I have a great memory and hear things, as some one said above i breakdown music into the various instruments. I read by breaking words into sound but cant visualise to spell etc

Until I read this thread, I had no idea that people could see pictures!

I am terrible at remembering faces. I often walk straight past friends and family without seeing them. I recognise my own children but if I ever had to give a description to a sketch artist, I wouldn't be able to do it. I just wouldn't be able to describe the shape of their nose/mouth/eyes or anything like that.

The one thing I can see though is words on a white background. I was always very good at spelling tests in school because I could just read' the words from my 'mind board'. Showing my age but I used to be able to spell "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' faster than most people could even say the word.

I can see pictures in my head, both memories of actual people, places and things I’ve seen, plus imaginary ones I’ve visualised. I was equally amazed as you, OP, when I first found out some people can’t do this.

I was telling my DP about it and it turns out he can’t either! It explains a lot. When we were having some building work done we had a heated debate about what something might look like. I could just see it in my mind’s eye and knew it would look fine, he couldn’t. I didn’t realise that at the time. He always takes ages to decide on something decorative for the house because he can’t visualise it. I understand why now.

Does anyone else find they can picture things better in their mind’s eye when they’ve got their eyes open!?

I can see a beach etc very easily in my mind. There's also the one where some people can hear their voice inside their head (I can) and some people apparently can't do this?

I never used to have a "mind's eye" at all, but it developed of its own accord. I can't remember when - maybe in my 20s or 30s? I think it is still not as good as many other people's, but it's there. Occasionally I get a moderately detailed image.

I also have a poor ability to recognise faces. I always used to think I wasn't trying hard enough, but after watching a documentary on "face blindness" featuring two teens who couldn't even recognise their own parents, I theorised that natural ability on this is variable. I now cut myself some slack and even warn new acquaintances sometimes that I struggle to recognise people so they won't be offended. I can have an hour-long conversation with a new acquaintance and then walk past them in the street the next day. I've seen my next-door neighbours maybe three times a month for the last year and I am still pretty unsure of recognising them. If someone has a particular feature which I find distinctive then I can memorise it. I do eventually learn to recognise people I see very frequently.

I didn't used to have any images in my dreams, or hear exact words either, so I didn't understand what people meant when they asked "do you dream in colour?" or " what language do you dream in?" I dreamed in ideas: the concept of being chased by a bear (but I don't know what the bear looks like), the concept of my partner telling me off for leaving the oven on (but I don't know exactly which words he used).

This is so interesting! I can see things in my head really well, and had no idea that people couldn’t. I don’t hear associated sounds though, unless I think about it. If I picture a beach, I just see a beach. I’m quite good at recalling where information was on a page, eg in a textbook I don’t have a photographic memory (sadly) with the text, but could remember that the diagram of whatever was on the bottom left of a page, and that the title of the page was in big blue letters.

As i said above i don't see pictures, but just realise i have continuous ear worms, music playing all day not sure if this is more common in those who dont have a minds eye or not.

Also its not like i dont like art, I adoee photography, paintings and scenery, i just don't have pictures in my mind of them , just impressions

Also I’m really bad with facial recognition, and struggle to recognize people or remember the faces of people I haven’t seen in a long time, but am really good at remembering places. I can picture the house we lived in until I was six exactly - every room, the texture on the wallpaper, where the furniture was. I’m like this with houses of my family that I haven’t been in for years, I can close my eyes and just see it. But not them, just the houses! It’s a bit odd now I put it into words.

I do see things from my memories and my imaginings in my mind's eye, but I'm hopeless at "seeing" things from a written description in a novel, say. I do have an excellent memory for places (ie, remembering how to get to a place I haven't been to for years, simply because I remember how the route looked) and for faces, and am good at colour recollection (ie colour matching a garment in a shop to something I have at home) and at size reckoning by eye.

I also have a continuous ear-worm of songs in my mind's ear, but I'm not especially good at recognising voices and I'm hopeless with accents - both identifying and deciphering them. I always have music of some sort in my head. Weirdly I'm not much into music - I rarely have the radio on, I don't go to gigs or buy music, and I can't play an instrument. I always thought that was because I had music in my head anyway so didn't need it externally - I do sing along to whatever ear worm I have though!

I'm terrible with nouns though! Both of names and of things - I think I have aphasia of some sort. In fact, I worry quite a lot that it's a symptom of some form of dementia (except I've been like that for years...). I can really easily place an actor I've seen once years ago in something when he pops up again on TV, but I'd never recall his name.

@Snooks1971

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!

I can see everyone elses face but my own, I can draw other peoples faces realy well from memory but I'm rubbish at drawing myself even with a mirror !

I see things better with my eyes open. I can easily see pictures in my mind if I want to, but I hate descriptive phrases in books. I also don't sexually fantasize. I get bored. Don't get mindfulness either.

How do people think if they don't have an internal monologue? Do you just sit there and be blank?

Music doesn't really feature in my mind. Nice as background but I still can't tell you the words to songs I've heard and danced to, hundreds of times. It blows my brain when people can sing entire songs. Don't understand the concept of ear worms.