AIBU to think aphantasia is not rare?

[Sunninginthecorner]

I was doomscrolling insta and a video came up about aphantasia.

Rather than explain what it is badly I found this:

Aphantasia is a condition in which people do not visualize, or see, images in their minds. This rare way of processing information and recalling memories affects about four percent of people. Close your eyes and imagine a fluffy cat. What color is the cat? What is the cat doing? When asked such questions, many people will conjure up a lifelike visual image. But others do not. People with aphantasia know they are thinking of a cat. They can even describe what a cat generally looks like. But they do so without “seeing” a cat in their mind. Instead of using their ‘mind’s eye,’ someone with aphantasia may think using words, numbers or ideas.

Brain scans show that people with aphantasia respond differently to sounds than people who use mental images.

I can’t see images and my very small poll IRL hasn’t found anyone who does see images.

IABU - you can see in images and it is rare
IANBU - you can’t see images and can’t believe it’s that rare

I just tried singing “i will always love you” in my head 😂 and my brain just auto tunes me so it’s fine. Like it’s not got the depth to the vocals because I can’t sing but it’s me doing a very average job of holding the notes. No instruments - if I think of a classical song it’s just me singing the notes!!

This has blown my mind too!!! It’s just me in my head too, doing an average job of singing a song when I think about it. Imagine being able to just recreate an actual song! Or the taste of a chocolate brownie. I’m a bit jealous!

I’m now sitting here imagining Bohemian Rhapsody! I can “see” the video of faces against a black background, although that sometimes gets replaced by images from Wayne’s World of them singing it in the car.

There are definitely multiple instruments, and I think I can “hear” the voices pretty accurately, particularly as it switches between one voice and the harmony of several voices together.

I find it absolutely fascinating that we all have this lump of hardware in our heads, but it seems to be so adaptable that it comes up with different ways of perceiving and interpreting the world for different people. And in spite of these often significant differences, most of us default to assuming that we’re all experiencing it in pretty much the same way. It is mind blowing.

Ok…. So maybe a diagram with words? So a box of a room with no imagery just words on the floor like “red carpet”? What would the concept of a horse be? The shape of it? Do you imagine the shape or does it just exist in your head like I know what a horse is but I can’t see, for example, what horses eyes or mane look like without it being in front of me?

it’s so hard to understand what happens in other people’s minds isn’t it 🤣

So interesting. I’m always away in my mind reliving trips away, or planning the things I want to do. I wouldn’t be able to function without it as it’s my point of reference for remembering things!

It’s not always super clear, and it won’t always be totally accurate, but it works for the most part.

touch no but I can do smell taste and sound as well as images. When i am deciding what to cook, I imagine what flavour and texture I want....so I guess I can do some aspect of touch but not skin touch. and I can only hear things I know well ie have heard frequently. Interstingly my default horse image is the Whistlejacket painting by Stubbs and it has been ever since I first saw it. I live where ponies range freely and have ridden myself and can "see" those horses and ponies if I choose to, but if somebody says to me "horse" my image is Whistlejacket.

I see images in my mind, I didn't realise that not everybody was like that. I mean, if I think of a mermaid I see a mermaid, with colourful scales, floaty hair, in a whole sea scene full of colours, just like if I was looking at a picture. But I also see numbers in colours as well.

It’s just not visual at all - so it’s not like I can see a box with words in it. It’s like I can spatially map something, and I just “know” information about it. So a horse I know what a horse is, I can reel off facts about what a horse looks like and I could draw one (badly). I can also imagine the movement of a horses legs but there’s no attached image.

With the house I can sort of imagine myself moving around the space but it’s not an image. Just imagine how a blind person knows their way around their house they can’t see it but they know where things are. I then have a list of facts like I know it was a brick fireplace and a gas fire. I know where they are in my mental map of the house!

Thats really brilliant. I wish I could see the images.

Yes I can imagine smells, taste, touch but don't do it that often. It's not always a good thing when you vividly smell a chocolate cake or imagine eating it-you can almost taste it for real but not quite!

Yep I would imagine a whole song although it'd be a bit fuzzy if I haven't recently listened to it. I'm also not the most observant person in the world so I doubt I'd get all the instruments correct. The singing voice would be accurate tho. I like how you replace the singer with yourself 😆I'm quite jealous!

This is a good description, not visual, there is no seeing of anything at all for me, not the words or anything. If I see a thing I know what it is, but I could never imagine one in my head. Or a sound, so a cat says ‘meyow’ & a dog says ‘woof’ so I know it if I hear it, but that’s my own voice saying the word if I think of what cries those animals make.

Also; I’m an artist, so I paint in minute detail what I’m seeing in front of me. But ask me to draw a finch I know it’s a small bird, an owl is bigger, but both would look like a 3 year olds drawing of ‘a bird’ just different sizes!

The thinking in my own voice realisation from this thread has made me laugh. Like even if I imagine the sound a car makes it’s just me going “brmmmm” 😂 it must be amazing for these people to be able to see, taste, hear and smell things from their memories!

This thread is facinating, i love all the different ways our minds work. It goes to show that we all experience and process life very differently.

Can I ask a question of those of you who DO see pictures? Because I'm someone with aphantasia who doesn't.

Bit of a TAAT, but I've just seen someone asking for podcast recommendations and realised that perhaps the reason that I hate podcasts and would never listen to one is linked to my aphantasia? I find it almost impossible to listen and focus for any length of time to people just talking in my ear. Without any picture I can't follow audio - my own thoughts intrude and it's like having the radio and the tv on at the same time.

If you enjoy podcasts is it because you are visualising scenarios whilst the people talk? Or am I just a weirdo who hates podcasts?

I see pictures and hate podcasts and audiobooks.

I see the person talking as I listen. I see what they're talking about.
If it's a person I don't know talking then I just see the words as they're spoken, like ticker tape.

Not in my case and medically it says it isn’t (quick google)

This is always an interesting topic, as what people would consider a picture in their head varies so much.

Do people genuinely see an actual picture? As in, it is the same as having it in your vision? If I close my eyes, it is black and there are vague shapes from the light I was looking at previously. But I can think of something and "see" it in my mind.
I have also had hallucinations, and they are still there when I close my eyes. They are actual images, which is what makes them terrifying as they don't go away.

If I try to imagine something, it is in my head, and not my eyes... if that makes sense. The same as if I am reading... I narrate it in my head, but I do not hear it in my ears.

for me the "seeing" happens just about where my third eye would be which, of itself, is interesting. Its hard, almost impossible for me to mind's eye see stuff with my eyes closed. I mentioned upthread that when I was a child I was an actual eidetiker and images would appear in front of me and so real that they would block out he real world. I had no control over it though.

I see it behind my eyes. Like @godmum56 , where a third eye would be, just behind there.

I don't see images! If I actually close my eyes and try really hard I can sort of see a blurry shape of a specific thing but mostly I see it in words I suppose.

I really like taking pictures because I can't 'see' memories otherwise. I can't really remember what my daughter looked like as a baby, which makes me really sad, but I have a million photos of her I can look at instead. She's only 3 by the way so I can't blame time!

I don't see a thing when I close my eyes and didn't realise this was unusual, in fact, I wasnt even aware of it until very recently🤷‍♀️

That sounds like hallucinations to me.

Same as you. I mean it's the mind generating the images after all not the actual sense organs. That's why I don't get how someone said they actually saw the images as if it was as real as what they'd see with their eyes. That sounds more like a hallucination. If I could really conjure up images that real I'd probably daydream my life away and that wouldn't be too healthy!