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

Yes, I had this discussion with my late husband and was astounded when he told me that he got a Technicolor movie in his head when he read; I get a narrator and sometimes very blurry images.

For example, I remember that when I read First Term at Malory Towers as a child, I could see the hairstyles and hair colour of two of the main characters, but that was all.

We still have a memory. So we know that we walked north towards a church, turned left towards the sea, right at the statue etc. I'm actually very good at directions. I think some people have an inbuilt compass and some just don't. Half my family are great at navigating, the other half useless..

I've no formal diagnosis of autism, but a family member has.

Years ago, I was diagnosed with OCD, which apparently can be related to autism? I too learned to fake making eye contact - after being told off for being 'rude' at school.

That's a really good description of my own experience, which other people can't understand. The essence of something is retained but not a visual image.

I don't have full aphantasia but close to it. If asked to imagine an elephant, I find it hard to conjure up a complete image no matter how blurry. I can visualise a sketch of a rough body and legs, if I think hard I can add the tail, but figuring out the shape of the head, trunk and ears and how they connect to the body is hard.

Didn’t know this was a thing. Wonder if this explains why DH can’t remember routes to places for literally years, even if going 2/3 times a month? Last night trying to tell him where I had been walking he couldn’t get where I turned onto a local right of way and he’s driven past it about 10 times a week for years, and there’s a sign. Only once about 30 years ago he chose wallpaper for the lounge, it lasted about 2 weeks before he said it looked awful and for me to choose something else. Looks like he can’t visualise the end result

I tried to think of and visualise a fluffy cat, but in my mind's eye I could see only a clothes' brush, coudl hear brushing sounds, see hairs on a dark jacket and an inner voice going "fuck, fuck, fuck. Bloody cat, late for work, what the fuck." Curiously, no cat appeared.

The red star test is most popular

There is an even madder one - when you have an ear worm song to you hear yourself signing or the actual song like a recording ??? I hear my own voice not the actual song.

Discovering i have a neurodivigence in my 50's is mind blowing
Multisensory subtypes of aphantasia: Mental imagery as supramodal perception in reverse - ScienceDirect

I can’t picture things in my mind. I didn’t realize that was unusual | Well actually | The Guardian

I would be really interested to know if authors who are aphantasic write differently, i.e. without 'visual' description. Or authors who write with less/no visual description are probably therefore aphantasic.

I have this, I can remember, recognise things from the past, however I cant see it, I remember doing relaxation after an exercise class and the instructor was saying imagine your on a warm beach ect, I was just lying there thinking this is boring. I didn't realise people could actually see the beach etc.
It interesting as I prefer to read facts rather the fictional books, mabey thats because when im reading i literally just see the words on the page, I guess I "visualise" in concepts rather then image imagery. I know what something looks like but not see it in my mind.

I think I have the opposite of aphantasia, I involuntarily visualise everything and anything very vividly. As soon as I read "cat" in the op I instantly saw a large fluffy grey cat, then when a poster said imagine it on your sofa it's instantly there on my sofa looking at me 😂 I don't really get a choice in the matter which can sometimes be a very unwanted thing.

I hated the Harry Potter films at first because I had very detailed images of the entire world including every character and none of it matched. When I read a book I'm also watching it inside my head.

See I read your comment and I'm instantly on a tropical beach walking through the palm trees on to the sand, I can see every detail.

I see whole film reels in my mind!

You didn't ask about the floor that the blue ball bounced onto when it rolled off the wooden table. It was black and white checked tiles. 😀

Not sure if it’s already been said, but the bits of the brain which control the conscious ‘mind’s-eye’ are different from the bits of the brain which produce dream images - I have complete aphantasia but very vivid visual dreams. Occasionally when dropping off to sleep a random image pops into my head, which usually wakes me up with a start at the strange sensation of feeling a picture in my head!

Before I knew about aphantasia I’d always wondered how on earth artists could draw from life - how on earth could they look away from the subject to the canvas or page, and reproduce what they were painting once they weren’t directly looking at it!

I couldn't do that either but that's because I am terrible at art, not because I don't see images in my head.

Hyperphantasic is where you have really clear images in your mind. If I think about something, it's almost like it's there in front of me, except it's inside my head. I can rotate it, I can see fine details, all the colours, no fuzziness, unless it is actually a fuzzy thing like the skin of kiwifruit.

It feels normal to me, because it's all I know, just as those who are aphantasic will feel that is normal, because again, it's all they know. Or those who have a minds eye, that gives them images, but not always clear ones. There will be very few people (there is a PP above whi had an accident which caused loss through injury) who will have experienced anything different from what is normal for them. Mostly, it doesn't seem to matter where on the phantasic spectrum you are.

There's a Disney animator who is aphantasic. I donot get how that works, how you can draw an imaginary thing that you can't see, but clearly it works for him.

I think it can be helpful to realise we're not all the same though, and when we're explaining things to people at work or wherever, especially you're involved with teaching or training or otherwise sharing information, that not all your audience, be they one or many, will be experiencing your words as you do.

😅😅😅😅

Ooh just looked up Hyperphantasia and that sounds like my brain.

I don't think it it, I'm autistic, I have a very vivid imagination and can see things very clearly in my mind's eye.

I found out when starting EMDR

It's not rare but the majority of people do have a mind's eye. I'm more the other end of the spectrum (hyperphantasia). I had PTSD after a car accident as I kept running the memory through my mind's eye and "saw" what would have happened if my sons hadn't missed coming out at the expected time. I did research on aphantasia and hyperphantasia for my thesis and it's really fascinating.

Yes, you're right - I'm definitely in the rarr group of people who've experienced both aphantasia and hyperphantasia. It's not a group that I would ever want anyone to join though - the loss is a lot. 😞

I realise my ability to see things clearly in my mind has made my needle phobia worse, as I can see a hyperdermic in my mind's eye coming for my arm! And feel the pain. Ugh. I never thought of that, but it must contribute! Ditto with public speaking, imagine a whole crowd of people staring at me!

Tina Daheeley (whilst covering for Jeremy Vine on R2) had a phone in on this subject about 6 weeks ago.

She kept referring to it as a 'superpower'! I was screaming at the radio, "No, you fool, it's not a superpower, it's a disability if anything!"

My daughter has it, so to hear Tina describe it as a superpower really pissed me off!

Do some research, Woman!