Aphantasia

[Newrumpus]

Recently, I discovered that I am aphantasic. I had never heard of this until recently and after hearing about it I have become interested in the experiences of others.

To save anyone googling, aphantasia is mind blindness or lack of visual imagery. When someone says ‘Imagine an elephant’ I think of an elephant but I don’t see one in my mind.

Does anyone else have experience of this and how did you discover it?

Not really, if 1/10 people have it…

Is it especially uncommon?

I know a couple of people who have it. I probably know many more who haven't ever mentioned it or don't realise it's unusual.

I just read it's 1-3% of the population

It's not unrealistic that the 10% who have it would be drawn to this thread

How many mumsnetters are there? It's a lot globally, so even if less than 10% it's still not unrealistic.

Mumsnet has 7 million visitors per month

I have just been reading up on it. Seemingly about 3% globally have aphantasia and apparently they usually have a slightly higher IQ, averaging 110/115%, so that's a positive.

I have dyslexia and was told it was severe problems with visual processing.

And I've just realised I don't picture things in my mind either.

It's always a huge source of amusement for ds and I because I can't remember roads I've driven down and where an exit is etc and he has a photographic memory

wonder what would happen if they took acid!

@happyumwelt there is no melody. A stream of words, a rhythm but no tune at all. It might explain why I'm a crap singer.

I can't visualise what family members look like, or what they sound like. I do recognise them when I see or hear them.

Having said that, I am not great at recognising people generally. And for fun I once did an online test about facial recognition. Apparently I came in the bottom 3%. Good thing I never wanted to join the police.

When people said they see thinks super clear (on another similar thread a while back), I was worried as for me it's much more subtle and internal than that, but images definitely do come to mind.

One way I know I have it is that I can sometimes see intrusive things very easily - eg walking up the stairs I can see something someone could trip over and instantly imagine one of my kids falling down the stairs, breaking a bone - I cringe almost as if it had happened!

This makes me wonder if people with aphantasia might be less risk averse? I am wary of loads of things because I visualise what can go wrong (and it's horrible!)

@Newrumpus . I know this is an old thread, so may well start a new one. I’ve just discovered I’ve got this too 🙈
I didn’t realise people can actually “ see “ stuff when they count sheep or visualise sunsets in yoga classes. I found this good article that explains some of the research if it’s of interest to anyone.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-the-minds-eye-is-blind1/

Nobody actually counts sheep, you know?!

So if I said to you, "what does a toothbrush look like?" You can't picture a toothbrush?

@Hungrycaterpillarsmummy
No, I can't picture a toothbrush. I can describe it - handle, bristles, etc. But I can't picture it.

I'm like that with art!!! I can picture a beautiful scene, but try and draw it and .... well it's not pretty! My children are similar and get frustrated they can't draw why they see in their heads! :) Not sure many can to be fair!!

I cannot imagine what it would be like to have aphantasia. My imagination is so active with lots of images!! Would love to step into someone else's brain for a bit! It's so fascinating the things we take for granted and assume we all do (like thinking with images), and then find we don't all do it!!

Wow!! I just can't get my ahead around this!

So if you see a toothbrush and shut your eyes, you cannot bring a picture of it to mind???? At all??

DH has Aphantasia but he can’t picture anything. If you ask him to picture an elephant he says he kind of imagines the word but not a picture.

DH cannot picture things so if I’m trying to explain how something will fit in the house for example, I need to draw it for him so he can literally see it or physically show him.

To the people with aphantasia - has it had any negative impact on you? Like made learning harder? Reading harder? Or is it just different but doesn't make anything hard?

As far as I know the inner monologue is less common than you’d think. I saw an article earlier saying less than 50% of people have one (think it was around 35-40%). Could be wrong though.

I don’t have one. Unless I’m reading or a tune gets stuck, my mind is silent. I think in abstract senses of things. It’s peaceful and hearing others describe their inner monologues sounds exhausting.

@Hungrycaterpillarsmummy . I understand what you are saying, but some people do actually “see” sheep. There are differing degrees of what people see, with some having vague shapes to people seeing whole scenes.
ive talked to lots of people since finding this out just last week 😆. My mum sees sheep leaping over a fence with green fields. It’s like a photo in her mind.

its fine if you don’t believe I can’t picture anything. There has been interesting research that looks at brain scans and looks to see which parts of the brain are accessed. Some people’s visual cortex “light up”, some aren’t used at all when accessing memories or trying to visualise.

I can create a borderline mental image with an effort, but it's not something that comes to me naturally. Tell me to "imagine an elephant" and like OP, it's more of an abstract concept to me.

And yes, I also really struggle to remember a person's face.

It's mostly specific to sight for me. I definitely have a "mind's ear" and get my share of earworms, and I'm much more likely to recognise someone's voice than their face. Other senses too - the most memorable thing about the time I nearly fell off a cliff isn't what the cliff looked like but the feeling of stumbling and nearly falling off.

@NameChangeThreeThousand
so randomly spatial memory is normal. So when reading books I can think where I am in a space, but can’t visualise any of the details of the surroundings. It’s really hard to describe as I don’t know any different 😆
I an awful with faces- like if someone gets a haircut I don’t recognise them sometimes. So that a big negative as I can’t see people’s faces in my mind at all.
learning wise I have a very good memory and did well in school and university, so I guess I used other ways to remember things. I often recorded my notes at school onto tape, so I guess I remember much more through listening.

Also, big time inner monologue for me. Well, not always inner - I'm one for talking to myself.

I have this, and face blindness with people ive met less than 10x or so, and can't navigate myself around roads I've lived near for years / hotel corridors etc. Dp is incredulous when I can't recognise people on TV when they get a new haircut. I tend to listen rather than watch now, and can recognise people he can't via voice (like voice overs in peppa pig). I do have an annoyingly loud internal monologue though. My dreams are the same, feelings or words only.

@NameChangeThreeThousand
I have a stem PhD, but I exam extremely poorly. I recall via voice repetition as I can't see formulas, so rely on course/lab work for grades. I'm an editor so have little need for recall now thankfully, I lose information as soon as it's processed unless I'm using it day in day out, or repeating several times a day.

No picture at all. Not even a vague, fuzzy one.