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 don't see images in my mind. I know what a cat looks like and can describe it in detail but can't "see" it. If I try to visualise it, it feels like it's just outside my peripheral vision no matter which way I try. I have a constant internal monlogue which is enough to distract me when I'm trying to read (which is me telling myself the story word for word in my own voice). Its never quiet inside my head

I do dream in images though and it can wake me up. My brain goes "ooh pictures I must be dreaming" which makes me jump awake.

I agree OP it must be more common than people think. I'm the same as @Spendthrifting but have a good imagination and it hasn't held me back. I only recently found out other people see detailed images, that would be very weird to me.

Yes its very quiet and peaceful.
When I close my eyes its like being in a dark sound proof room, though not everyone with aphantasia also have no internal monologue.
Its never interfered with my ability to recognise faces or places nor has it ever interfered with my ability to navigate any area I've been before, seen images or a map of. Whereas someone who can visualise may make a visual memory of a street I'll make a list of permanent features. Things like walk past the statue towards the library turning left at the clock tower Whereas you would see an image of the street and route you need to take.

For me it's just like someone talking at me, there are no images. It's hard to describe but I know what they're talking about and understand it I just don't visually see it.
Someone mentioned lack of imagination and it's not that at all, I write stories for my own enjoyment and my mind is always busy.

I also think this. My younger brother is the only person l know who has it and we are quite a neurodiverse family. He has no neurodiversity diagnosis but a lot of the rest of the family does

That is interesting, I have C-PTSD from childhood. I don't re-see the images in my head. But I re-feel it, go through the emotional process again. I actually grimace when I think of certain things.

I had a similar discussion with DS, he's not into reading, when I was saying if I read a book, I have almost a film in my head, what the characters look like, what the scenery is. He told me he gets none of that, it's just words on a page. I asked him what happens if he tries to visualise something, generally he can't, he can remember things, but not visualise things. I had no idea it was a known thing.

I wondered this too. My mind was blown when I learned some people don’t have one, how do you even think?! Fascinating.

Same, can't image it visually, can't see anything when I close my eyes but words like fluffy cat come up

I could describe the cat, because I can remember them, but not picture the cat. The words I would use to describe it are in my head - I’ve just processed the image I saw with my eyes into words.

I was playing a game with some friends about this where we were imagining a chair, and we were asking questions and describing the chair… I could describe a chair, but it wasn’t an armchair until I decided it to be, it wasn’t blue until I said it etc etc because it was a fictional chair I couldn’t see and I could any descriptor to it. One of my friends asked which way the chair was facing and that blew my mind a bit as it wasn’t facing anywhere, I couldn’t picture it. I could describe a chair like I would describe one in a book but it didn’t exist anywhere so it couldn’t be oriented in any direction, whereas they had all pictured one face on/facing left/right.

It's very lonely. And I miss being able to have someone or something in my mind's eye to accompany me in times of worry, stress etc. 😩

I used to be able to lie in bed with all different scenes running, imagining what I'm doing next holiday, next week etc. And yes, it was a form of escapism.

Now, after losing it, I just lie in bed and it's all black. Very occasionally, I get a true brief vivid flash of an image, and it is quite disconcerting as it's very unexpected and upsets me a bit, as it reminds me of what I used to see.

But in a positive way, I guess I don't lie for hours Iike I used to, and imagining everything and not getting to sleep. Now I just close my eyes and continue to see black, not being distracted.

There are positives, I guess lol. (I still miss it though 😕)

Yes can imagine this would make reading much more dull. Hadn’t thought of the movie thing before this thread but that is how I see the story too.

I know someone with aphantasia and he can’t even recognise his wife or friends without context as he can’t remember what they look like, so I think to have it at that level is quite rare. He seems to remember “things” well, like shipping lists etc., just not physical things.

I also had a boyfriend who couldn’t imagine new things but could remember things he’d seen and people he knew. I think having it at that level isn’t the norm but not as rare.

When I was a kid my parents used to say I had a photographic memory, but I don’t think I did and certainly don’t now! I definitely couldn’t do the imagining a movie. I remember once someone posting on MN about how every time she closed her eyes there was a Disney movie running and people thought she was batshit!

I have images for everything and I’m an avid reader, always have been, maybe the two are linked, or a love of reading is more when you have images.
For example, I read Lord of the Rings as a young child. When the film was released, Gollum and the Orcs looked pretty much exactly as I had imagined, which I commented on at the time.

I don’t understand this. What does vivid as a picture book mean? I tell myself entire stories and can see them. I suppose I might not ‘see’ every detail in a room unless I gave my focus to it, but I would be imagining if it was a room with lots of flowers or types of ornaments and furnishing to fit the character/ story. IYSWIM

DD2 has it. She was talking about how she can’t understand what she reads. She was astonished when DS and I both said, reading was like watching television in our heads!

DH has it, and he can’t recognise people unless they are in context. He can’t recognise our neighbours on the high street, even if he was talking to them face to face the day before, in our road!

DH and DD2 are both neurodiverse.

I have it and I’m a massive reader. As a child I’d read almost constantly (I don’t have as much time now sadly, although I still read 1-2 books a week and don’t watch TV at all). I don’t feel like the lack of imagery affects my reading enjoyment TBH.

I have aphantasia and a husband and 2 children with very strong synaesthesia. I can't even imagine what it's like to visualise, never mind get sensory crossover in the way they do.

I think it is linked- I don't really see images in my mind's eye and I also struggle remembering and recognising faces.

It's something I suffer with when I have a migraine, I've noticed, but at no other time. Interesting, I didn't realise some people have it all the time, or that it had a name.

It’s a range. Some people have aphantasia, some, equally rare, have hyperfantasia - imaging immediately life-like things, often across many senses, objects can be manipulated, change colours etc. Most people are somewhere in the middle. Some only imagine in black and white, others when you say a word imagine that word not what it represents. Some see things in their minds eye, others in the real world with different degrees of transparency. It does not appear to be linked to having the narrative in your head. It also ins’t formally linked with prosopagnosia (face blindness), which is a separate thing. My aphantasic husband has better face memory than hyperphantasic me. He also has a tendency to start reading out gruesome details from books his enjoying while I’m cringing seeing and feeling the whole story (he doesn’t mean anything bad, he just forgets, plus for a long time we didn’t know).

I can see images and remember being so surprised when I found out some people couldn't! It must make it so much harder to remember people, places, things etc. Or mayne it doesn't? And what are dreams like?

I wouldn't be able to picture the cat but could tell you the colour, size or noticeable features and would recognise it again the next time I saw it but no I cant picture it, its more like a list of words (thought I dont actually "see" the list). I can tell you that I saw a light and dark grey striped cat in my garden yesterday but its a smaller and younger cat than the usual big light and dark grey striped tom cat that usually passes through my garden. I just can't picture either of them 🤷‍♀️

I was mindblown when I learned (on MN!) that some people can’t see things in their mind. I’ve always had a very vivid imagination, can picture things very clearly (and include other senses like sound, smell, touch to differing extents) and have a very visual memory. It makes me sad to think that some people don’t have that as it can be lovely to retreat into my inner world.

To respond to your cat suggestion @Sunninginthecorner - I didn’t consciously think of anything, I let my imagination just conjure it up for me. I saw a white, fluffy cat, one of those longhair breeds. It had a sky blue ribbon tied in a bow around its neck, with a tiny bell hanging off it. I saw it running along a Persian rug and then jumping onto a sofa. It was a grey sofa, one of the soft fabric ones with big, soft, cushiony arms. The fabric had a lined, ridgey pattern running vertically through it, and I saw the seat of the sofa sink down slightly when the cat jumped on it, and the little bell it was wearing on its neck made a soft, tinkling sound.

Then, an ice cream appeared on the arm of the sofa. I saw the cat jump onto the arm, again hearing its bell as it moved and seeing the soft, cushiony arm sink and move when the cat did. The cat started licking the ice cream, which was a deep purple colour (forest berries flavour? Black cherry flavour?). It was three scoops in a little, ribbed ice cream dish, which was made of light blue glass. The ice cream was topped with two shiny blueberries and a sprig of mint. I could see the blueberries had some condensation on them as the cat was licking the ice cream, so they must have been fresh from a fridge. Then I stopped imagining the scene. This all took about 15 seconds from start to finish, and I would now be able to remember this scene in the same amount of detail, or picture the same cat, sofa, or ice cream in a different scene.

I’m not sure if this is in any way helpful or interesting, but I thought I’d chime in. Even now while writing this, I’m thinking about the cat and how soft its fur looked. I can imagine how soft and silky it would be to stroke and I get a tiny bit of sensory feedback from that when I visualise putting my hand out to stroke it.

It's funny how you say it doesn't affect your enjoyment of reading. I've found it does affect how much I enjoy reading. When I had my mind's eye, I easily read lots of fiction, devouring it.

Now, not being able to visualise characters or plot as a running film when reading is not fun. It's totally removed the enjoyment and ease of reading, even taken away some of the understanding. I truly appreciate how much my imagination contributed to my love of reading, planning to write, or what I'm trying to describe. As an editor, it makes life harder in some ways too.

I hate not being able to see in my mind's eye 😞