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 cannot call up images to mind, saying imagine a cat does nothing for me, but at times thoughts and feelings come to mind as images or impressions of images.

I see images very clearly. I saw a grey cat stretching.
I remember things that happened clearly too, like watching a film. When I read it's like I'm watching it happen.

I am a maladaptive daydreamer, which means I have a movie running through my head at all times, with full on characters, storylines, whole lives playing out and I assumed it was a ND thing 🤔.

I discovered this was a thing around 10 years ago, on this very site - I've had it since I was 9 and thought it was just me - it's the one thing I love most of all about the invention of the internet - finding out a lifelong condition a blessing if I'm totally honest was more common than I realised.

For example, I sometimes wonder whether some people with low or no internal imagery imagine that what other people have is something as vivid as a picture book, which is actually rare-to-non-existent

Definitely not non-existent, but probably hyperphantasia is as rare as aphantasia - there are probably numbers somewhere if you google. It's more like having an internal film than a picture book, though.

@Sunninginthecorner was it the sugarcoated sisters video?

Me too! I've got stories running that are over 25 years old. Do you tell them to yourself to get to sleep? (My bedtime one is a post-apocalyptic scenario with people living in an old caravan park.)

I agree that your poll still makes no sense so the voting is all over the place 😁 . I think It's unusual not to be able to visualise.

tangential but I believe linked, is anyone an eidetiker? I am not now but was when i was a child. It was very uncontrolled. I would see moving images in front of me. They would be so solid that they would block out the real world. its a good job that the phenomenon faded before I learned to drive!

I’m not diagnosed but there are a lot of ND people in my family and I have a strong memory of being a child and working out if I look at the top of someone’s nose when speaking to them they would think I was making eye contact so it wouldn’t surprise me if I was!

Omg, this is what I mean 🤗 wonderful.
I mainly have them to go to sleep, but honestly, they occure any time, even cycling to the shops 😳. I don't share mine because they are absurd and not based even remotely in reality 😂.

Thank you for this description as it’s exactly how I am but I have no idea how that compares to other people.

I’ve started doubting myself as to whether I “see” things or not. Certainly I’m not great at remembering faces.

I have aphantasia. I had no idea until the age of 60! I thought everyone was like me. I think I'm not quite at the far end of the spectrum - it's like having a word on the tip of the tongue for me. I know what a shiny red apple looks like but I can't quite see it. I know what the beach i was at looks like & I can imagine being there, but can I actually "see" it? No, I don't think I can.
There is a relationship to ND, & several of my family are ND.
Aphantasics also grieve differently. I was quite relieved when I found this out as I thought I was very hard hearted.----
I also have a degree of face blindness.

I do the same but I don't like the idea of it being called 'maladaptive'. It's enhanced my life. My standard treatment for insomnia is to imagine favourite movies from start to finish usually with additional characters of my own design and they can become quite elaborate and last over years.

I had a conversation with someone who has aphantasia recently. I asked her if she imagines what she is going to have for dinner (for example) then what she imagines, She said she just feels hungry and cooks something. I will often pre-cook the entire meal in my mind in advance and see it as if it is real in front of me.

For me, I would remember that I petted a larger then average ginger cat, with white paws, that was close to the house on the corner with a blue door and hydrangea in the garden. I would not have a picture of the cat in my head, but would know it was the same cat, from the description matching.

In my case I have a very strong internal monologue and it's as though every conversation I've had or monologue though is stored on an archive record in my brain, then downloaded when relivent to the situsituation.

If two neighbours on the same street had fully black, similar sized cats, I would have no clue which was which.

4% isn't that rare its the same % as autism and means 1 in every 25 people (including myself) have it.

Most people who have it don't know that actually seeing things in your minds eye is a real thing rather than a metaphor until its explained to us that most people can actually visualise things in their minds.
@Sunninginthecorner Face blindness (the inability to recognise people's faces) is not linked to aphantasia

for me it’s no different to looking at a photograph or watching a film. I’m what one might call a maladaptive day dreamer so along with my internal monologue there is usually a visual scenario running all day.

I work with children and have to write reports and clinical notes. I don’t always manage to take notes during the sessions but if I look at the resources I used I can “play back” the session in my head and see my observations.

Its not linked to any other condition and is not considered a disability.
Aphantasia occurs in the same % of people with asd as those without, ie 4% of those of us with asd also have aphantasia just like 4%of NT people will have it

DD1 is currently disgusted when she found out this was a thing and she has it and wanted to claim compensation for me giving her a brain that's more boring! DH as well looked at me like I was insane when I suggested seeing things in your mind so we know where it comes from I guess!

Me and DD2 are the opposite and see everything incredibly vividly - guessing we got her share!

All autistic

I teach and always ask my classes about whether they can visualise, have internal monologue etc. we talk about it when thinking about how we learn and make memories. In a class of thirty usually 1-2 report as having no images, the same number as having no internal monologue, the same as having crazily vivid movie style pictures.

I see no images at all but daydream stories as narratives. Have a rich sensory relationship with thoughts and memories. Have a lively internal monologue and full time radio. Hear music so vividly I sometimes think it’s real. Makes me super irritating as I am always humming or singing along. Am poor with faces (but not face blind) just struggle to remember them, no sense of direction at all, get lost easily as rooms just look the same once I have left them - was a hospital visitor last week and kept getting confused and lost- it was just samey maze to me!

Observationally I would say the quirkier kids are more likely to have no skills at picturing things while the less academic have no internal monologue but these are relatively small samples and rely on my judgements So could be all confirmation bias anyway.

I and I believe others with the condition dream visually which implies my brain can do it if it wants to! I just can’t make it. I love dreams though - so exciting! Brains are fascinating.

One of my children is some sort of socially well functioning sociopath he reminds me of the uni professor who studied psychopathy and realised he was one - I don’t know enough to know which he is but how amazingly different our ways of seeing all sorts of things are.

I agree 💯 about the term maladaptive, it was a medical term when I first heard about it and its considered something to overcome 😳 and that it was somehow linked to trauma.
I would find it traumatic if I didn't have it , it's part of who I am at this point, but I don't talk about it with people specifically.

It was only fairly recently that I found out that people can actually ‘see’ images in their minds eye. I find that I also have trouble with face recognition and I have a poor memory of events - though a good memory for facts.

I am terrible at face recognition ( to the extent that I warn new people if I expect to meet them elsewhere), but see things as images. I dream in colour, too.

Much to DH’s horror, I tend to organise our books by spine colour (we have a lot of travel books) rather than geography or alpha order as that is how I tend to remember a book as if it was in my hand.

I’m a big fan of diagrams/spidergrams instead of solid text if I am trying to organise thoughts.

Wouldn't it only be maladaptive daydreaming if it gets in the way of living life? Otherwise, it's just vivid daydreaming.

I just see black! If I am picturing something it is described with words in my head, but i dont see the words.

I have aphantasia I only discovered other people could visualise things at age 55 . I do however have a constant tune running through my head and am constantly humming .