Can you see actual images in your head?

[pontipinemum]

Sorry not really an AIBU but I wanted the voting buttons.

I was watching a reel earlier and they were joking that their dad cannot see images in his head.

I can't see images in my head. When I close my eyes it's black (or red if it's bright!) DH said the same.

I know what things look like, and when I am asked to visualise a beautiful beach, I can remember places I have been but I don't 'see' them in my head. I can get a good 'sense' of what it is like in a book but I don't see the characters.

I'm not sure I am explaining this right at all.

YABU - I can actually see the things I am visualising in my head
YANBU - I see black

I've been having this exact conversation with a friend recently. When I close my eyes I have a glorious multicolour display that races across my vision. But pictures? No

Very occasionally I have a vivid dream, but mostly even my dreams have no pictures, I sort of sense what’s happening, dh and dd reckon they see vivid pictures in their heads all the time.

i have really poor visual memory, which means I’m awful at remembering faces or places, I’ve no sense of direction and I think my rubbish spelling is linked to it too.

When I close my eyes, it is black too, or red if it is bright. I still can see images "in my head". I can see my daughter's face, my grandmother's house etc. It's in your "mind's eye", not literally in front of your eyelids - I have these images in my mind while they are open, too. It's just visual thinking, not like a hallucination.

It's called aphantasia. I can see images in my head , when I read a book I visualise the story and I can picture memories too but my dh can't at all. He says it like a black void when he closes his eyes. Yet I can summon images at will sometimes. Which is why I'm good at remembering directions and he's not. He can't picture where he is in his head

Yes I can see images in my head if I imagine them. It's not just memories. If you described to me a scene, I'd picture my interpretation of it. Everything I think of is visual - it's how my brain works.

I have a very vivid imagination and can imagine all kinds of scenes but I don't see pictures when I close my eyes. Does anyone? Are they really seeing them or just imagining them?

Yes, I do. I tell myself stories to get to sleep at night and they're like watching films but in my head.
I can see images of things in my mind and my dreams are all very vivid and in colour- I can remember dream images from years ago.

I’ve been reading about this recently, it’s so interesting. I see things photographically in my mind’s eye.

To add - although I can easily visualise images in my head, I don't literally see anything when I shut my eyes...!

No, I can't either - I can't really imagine what it would feel like to be able to do so. 🤷‍♀️

I also very rarely "see" my dreams - I just remember what happened in them when I wake up. I think the odd time I have seen in them is when I've been awoken abruptly mid dream, by say the alarm, then I've had the last scene in the dream in my head at the time, so I can picture it.

Are they really seeing them or just imagining them?

This is what people mean. You can, with eyes open or closed it doesn't matter, imagine things visually in your head. I can "see" memories in my head, as if I am reliving them as I'm typing this, for example. Some people don't have this, so they think we mean "literally seeing" things in front of our eyes when we shut them.

To add, I don't think there is a reasonable or unreasonable answer.

This is very interesting. I can also imagine things (in lots of detail) that are not memories and I can bring up visual memories but I don't see them the way I see things when my eyes are open. When I close my eyes it's black or streaks of colour. Isn't that what the op meant or did they mean visualising stuff, ie imagining images rather than actually seeing them?

Yes I can visualise things easily in my head, but I don’t have to close my eyes to do it.

This exactly! I visualise things in my head with either my eyes open or closed (it doesn't matter). I'm visualising images in my mind, not behind my physical eyelids

Yes. I see pictures in my head as clearly as if I was watching a film. Sometimes (too often) they are so vivid that it is hard to remember I am present in real life too. If I'm lost in a good novel, I can easily genuinely be seeing a castle corridor with snow falling outside and not see the street I am walking down.

I see pictures. Eve. I was a I used to comes my eyes, drop my head and "look" at my cheat like a tv screen.

If I am reading the description of something, or someone is describing something to me, or were talking about memories etc, I visualise it in my mind, usually in colour.

I can see images in my head. In fact I can't STOP seeing images in my head when I close my eyes. Frequently they are really random and odd - the sort of thing that if I could paint would make a good surreal painting!
My partner doesn't see anything at all though.

When I close my eyes it's black or streaks of colour. Isn't that what the op meant or did they mean visualising stuff, ie imagining images rather than actually seeing them?

Yes, some people can't visualise in their mind, they can't imagine visually. If I said, think of an apple, they wouldn't "see" this apple in their head. I think, because they don't have it, they get confused about what it means to picture something "in your mind".

People also have varying ability to see things in their head. Example - imagine an apple...

I consider myself aphantasic - for me a memory is a collection of linked ideas, more like a word cloud where each word is a concept or feeling, than a picture.

I'm quite jealous of those of you who can visualise things. I really struggle with things like decorating the house. I find it really hard to imagine with such a colour would look like in such a place or a picture etc.

I have a vivid imagination though. It's just a continuous narrative though.

It's absolutely wild to me that some people just can't do it. When I first heard about it I was told about an exercise of picturing a table in your head. Then adding a ball in the middle of the table, colouring the ball a specific colour then picture someone walking in to the room the table is in and picking the ball up. I can see all of that in my mind as if it's happening and it boggles me knowing that some can only go so far and others not at all. And then there's people who don't have a voice inside their head!

Maybe you’re trying too hard and expecting to see a well-defined image right in front of your eyes? I see things in my minds eye but in an amorphous way. You can’t grab onto the image and inspect it as such, it’s just something that pops up if you think of things.
I bet you can see things in your minds eye really. Think of the fridge in your kitchen or the crisps and snacks aisle of your supermarket… or a person you know…
what happens?

Yes, have always been able to, I know lots of people's brains just don't work like that though. My husband looked at me like I'd just grown a tree out my head when I told him as a child I used to lie on the floor and listen to classical music and make up my own "Fantasia"-like scenes and stories to the music and watch them. Still do it now sometimes to relax.

It's not really "seeing" with your actual eyes though, when I shut my eyes all I see is black too. It's your "mind's eye", and it's one of those things that is incredibly difficult to explain to someone who doesn't have it! Like trying to explain what the colour blue looks like to a blind person.

Me too. And yes, I do see pictures and images when I close my eyes. But my brain works differently in many ways and I only need three hours of sleep.